A Busy Week

So this week has been VERY busy. On Monday, I had my very first home-school photography class! It was really fun, and I learned a lot! The classes are every week, giving me a reason to like Mondays! I learned so many settings on the camera and how to make pictures the best they can be! Sometimes though, it takes too long, and you may miss the shot, so there's one button you can press to help the picture if you're in a hurry. It is a very useful class, and our teacher said that next week, we're going outside! I can't wait!

On Tuesday, Mom, Baby, and I went to this ranch. We got onto a wagon with a bunch of other homeschoolers, and we rode on the horse-drawn wagon through this huge enclosed area full of exotic animals. Once in a while, the wagon would stop, and the animals would come literally right up to you. You could touch them if you tried. There were huge bison and brahmas - which look kind of like cebu, and llamas! There were other big animals like zebras, giraffes, and a rhino! The giraffes were in a cage, but they came to the fence and swung their heads down so you could feed them. The zebras and the rhino were the only animals you couldn't feed because the zebras had a row of teeth on the top and on the bottom, and the rhinos were kept at a distance. There were smaller animals too like the antelope, deer, pot-bellied-pigs, and goats. There were also ostriches and emus. Once the wagon ride was over, we went to the “petting zoo” area. There we saw birds such as parrots, peacocks, birds of paradise, parrakeets, and more! These were in cages of course except for the peacocks, who (since they can't fly far) were able to walk freely, though the ones I saw were perched on a cage. After the birds, there were rams and goats, which I fed. There were kangaroos, prairie dogs, and huge fish, all of which, we were not allowed to feed. Once we had finished walking through the petting zoo, we washed our hands, got in the car, and left to get lunch at Subway!

Wednesday was Baby's fourth birthday! Yay! She wanted a white sparkly dress with a white sparkly cake, and white sparkly presents. Well, that's what she got! I gave her a white sparkly unicorn plush toy; she had a white cake, with shiny sprinkles, a white shimmering dress, and a white balloon with silver stars! My other present to her was painting her nails white with shiny silver dots! We ate pumpkin bread for breakfast, she had pasta for lunch, and Pizza Hut pizza for dinner! Yummy! Baby also got a new VeggieTales DVD, refrigerator letter magnets, and a Candy Land board game! We also went to the jump & bounce place. Happy Birthday, Baby!

 

Thursday was busy too, although there wasn't anywhere to go. I had lots of school spilling over from the other days of the week. I had to clean my room, and I had to finish my Halloween costume. I also had to watch Baby for a few hours while Mom went to an appointment. 

 

Now, we're at Friday. This morning when I got up, I started writing the blog. Then Baby started knocking at her door. I got her out, and gave her a bath. She smelled of outside, and the smell from her full diaper. I decided to use some lavender soap and my shampoo to wash out the smell. When she got out, I dried her hair, and got her dressed. I brought her to Mom, who smelled her hair, and couldn't stand the strong scent-as it triggers her asthma. Back to the bathtub. I rinsed her hair out, and washed it with the regular shampoo. Then I dried it, and put her bow back in. About that time, I noticed little rashes on her. “Oh no,” I thought maybe the lavender soap I used had nuts in it and she was allergic to it. I looked on the bottle, but it didn't contain nuts. I brought her to Mom and showed her the rashes. Poor baby, back into the tub again. I soaped her up with the normal soap, got her out, dried her in different towels, put different clothes on her, and did her hair. Finally, she was ready for the day. Now I am back at the blog... two hours later. Hopefully the rest of this day isn't as slow!

That brings us to right now. Nothing interesting about that, so I’ll just skip ahead to tonight. I am going to my neighborhood costume parade! Everyone parades down the street for a bit while candy is thrown around to them. After the parade, they show a movie! I have no idea what tonight's movie is going to be, as they don't announce it, so you don't know until they pop the disk in! Haha! I can't wait!

Then tomorrow, there's a block party down the street, the first one since we've lived here! Lots of families have moved in on our street in the last few months, so we'll be able to meet them. I might even get some babysitting jobs! Fingers crossed!

I suppose you want to see pictures now? Here you go! Drink in the photography! Till next time, bye!

On Tuesday, I had a photo shoot with Baby in lots of different outfits, using my new photography skills! Have a look! 

 

I'm So Glad It's Friday!

Hello everyone! How was your week? I am so glad it's Friday! But I’ll have a busy weekend! I am having my Confirmation interview this afternoon, and right after that, I am volunteering at a festival at my church. Then on Saturday, I am working games at my old school's Fall Festival. I am working a connect-four game booth and a hair chalking booth. so..yeah!

This week wasn't terribly exciting. Mostly the same subjects as normal: Math, grammar, science, handwriting, etc. But I did go to my second Cotillion class on Tuesday. I am a volunteer this year. Basically, I put out the students' name tags, -and alphabetize them- welcome the kids in, file them into line in a 'boy-girl-boy-girl' pattern, and help if anyone's having trouble dancing. I also help our teacher to demonstrate dances or etiquette. If anyone is talking while our teacher Ms. B. is talking, or not doing what they're supposed to, I go over to them and sort it out. The other volunteers have these jobs too, but so far, not many volunteers show up. I love getting dressed up for the class, and I like volunteering, so it's a perfect combination! Too bad the classes are only once a month!

My older sister came home on Sunday. She, my mom, and I played games until late at night on Monday. We played Pirates of the Caribbean Life, Monopoly, and Rummikub. She went back to school on Tuesday, but she'll home at Thanksgiving! 

 

Now enjoy some pictures!

Baby's new favorite toy is “Skellie” the skeleton. She takes it everywhere, plays with it, and asks to sleep with it! One day, the first thing she said when she woke up was “Where's Skeleton?” Haha! How are we related?

 

helping Skellie suck her thumb

putting Skellie to bed

I found a “dead” moth on the floor the other day. I got some pictures, including some through a magnifying glass. When I got toilet paper to throw the moth away, and tried to pick it up, I was very startled when it started to buzz around! It was pathetic. It buzzed in a circle, never leaving the ground. It was like a broken tinker-toy. I got a short movie of it buzzing. Then, I took it outside and raised my hand hoping it would fly off, but it couldn't. I put it on a flower, but it buzzed off and fell to the ground. I don't know what happened after that, but in the thick leaves of the flowering plant, it was safe from hungry birds....

cool shot of a tree in our yard

baby's new hat (and gloves)

silly baby!

big sister & little sister

Happy Friday in October

Happy Friday in October everyone! Notice the new background? I wanted a very cool Halloween background I found, but it wasn't working, so we have this one. Festive isn't it? The Month of October is one of my favorites. Halloween, Halloween parties, All Saint's Day Parties, Fall festivals, and....Baby's Birthday! She's going to be four! For all of September, we told her “when's your birthday?” “Next month!” But now, we ask her, and she's so convinced it's still “next month” that she throws a fit every time we tell her otherwise. Ha-ha! This week, I have some really cool poems to share with you. But first, let me tell you something about a tradition in our neighborhood.

Every October, we do something called “Boo!-ing” No, not bowling, boo!ing as in a ghost say's BOO! Well, when you boo someone, you take some candy, and a “BOO!” sign and leave them at two neighbor's doorsteps after ringing the door bell. Then you run and hide. It's kind of like ding-dong-ditch, except you get candy. On the “BOO!” sign, there is usually a note or poem telling you to put the “BOO!” sign on your door, and BOO two other neighbors. Then you watch the Boo!ing spread, and soon everyone on the street has a little ghost on their door, as BOO! signs normally have a ghost on them. Well, I have always been booed before I even knew we were starting, so this year, I started the booing! And, I made my own original poem for it! Unfortunately, you are supposed to boo another person within two days, and neither person I’ve booed has, and it's already been maybe a week. So now Im going to boo some more people tonight. :P Oh well, here's the poem:

Hello! I'm a ghost!

I was left at your door

along with some goodies,

you'll like them for sure!

Now could you please hang me

upon you're front door,

then copy this paper

and boo two neighbors more!

Give the copied ghost friends

along with some treats

to two more front steps

up or down this street!

Thank you for reading,

and accepting the boo,

Please enjoy the candy

Boo's left here for you!

You like? Well, if you do, you'll the next poem too:

The sun broke through

the clouds of soft gray

and warmed the grass

where in the field lay

The grass stretched up

to the warmth for hours

and basked in the glow

of the Great Golden Flower.

I enjoyed writing that one.

Let's see, what other things have I done this week that would interest you? Well, On Saturday, I went to Dollar Tree to shop for party supplies for the Halloween Party I am having! What else?.....On the feast our Our Lady of the Rosary we made rosaries out of m&m's! Well, baby made her's out of Sixlets, which are a kind of nut-free off-brand m&m, I guess. 

 

Here's baby in the “special bed” we are getting ready to sell. She's too big for it now! Little baby's growing up!

Here's baby playing with a balloon. How she got her legs twisted up like that, I’ll never know! Oh well..

Till next time, BYE! AND HAPPY OCTOBER! :D

Autumn, Costumes, and Poems

Hey everybody! Today is a happy day...you know why? It's Friday!!! I am so glad it's the weekend; it's been a long week! 

Since the last blog, I have gone to this awesome bingo with the homeschoolers, and I won 1^st place for one of the bingo patterns! That's really cool because I’ve never won before! I sat next to my friend A, and we had so much fun! We went to get snacks, and saw that there were minion cupcakes! Minion cupcakes! (for those of you who don't know, minions are from the movie Despicable Me and are strangely adorable!) Well, we just had to get them. Here's a picture of the minion cupcakes, and A's new minion plush she recently got:

I wrote a super cool poem about the senses and Fall. Here it is:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BypPK1qIEGuTcmxFNEp6ZFVmZDQ/edit?usp=sharing

I know, it's a long poem, but I love every stanza of it! I used rhyming, beat, AND alliteration. I hope you enjoyed it! 

This week, I also have been working on memorizing The Captain’s Daughter by James T. Fields. I will now type it with out looking at the actual poem.

We were crowded in the cabin,

not a soul would dare to sleep,

it was midnight on the waters

and a storm was on the deep.

'Tis a fearful thing in winter

to be shattered by the blast,

and to hear the rattling trumpet

thunder, “Cut away the mast!'

So we shuddered there in silence

for the stoutest held their breath,

while the hungry sea was roaring

and the breakers talked with death

As thus we sat in darkness

each one busy with his prayers

“we are lost!” the captain shouted

as he staggered down the stairs.

But his little daughter whispered

as she took his icy hand

is not God upon the ocean

just the same as on the land?

So we kissed the little maiden

and we spoke in better cheer

and we anchored safe in harbor

when the morn was shining clear.

That was all from memory; not once did I look at the book! Haha, pretty good, huh?

Are you all glad it's October? I am! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! I also love fall, and the month of October, as you can probably tell by my poem! I am making progress on my costume - I'm going to be an ocelot - here are some pictures of what I've done so far:

This is the mask; I took a ¾ white face mask that I bought at Hobby Lobby for the base. 

Then, I took soft styrofoam and shaped a muzzle and eyebrows and glued them to the mask in the right places. After that, I cover the whole thing in the ocelot print fur that I got, using hot glue as an adhesive. When that was finished, I cut strips of thin wire and hot glued them to the “eyebrows” and the muzzle. Then I took to small pieces of elastic, glued them together to make a small elastic square, and cut it into the shape of a cat nose. I then colored it red with a black outline. I glued that to the mask. The ears are long black fur sewn onto pink fabric and then glue to the mask-under the print fur. When I wear the costume, I will use heavy eyeliner and mascara, and black eyeshadow coloring my eyes every where you can see it from the mask. That way, they'll blend right in. I'm also using black lipstick to make my mouth look like part of the actual mask. I wish I took step by step pictures of the mask-in-the-making, but I didn't, so I hope this verbal tutorial helped!

This might be my favorite part of my costume so far - besides the mask that is! It's my super-fluffy fluff tail!

 

I simply folded the print fabric over, cut out a tail shape, and sewed all the edges but the end together. Then, I added the fluffy black fur to the end, and turned the tail right side out so that the the tail looked right. Then I stuffed it with stuffing I used from a butchered old pillow! Haha! I then cut two holes on either side the top of the tail and threaded a belt through. The belt will go around my waist and the tail will stay where I want it!

This is my shirt - it's not entirely finished. 

I have to complete the sleeves, but I think that's it. I just used a shirt pattern for this, and added a zipper in the back. 

I'm working on the pants right now, but hopefully I'll post something about them with pictures next week - certainly before Halloween! I also am working on the shoes. I'll have that up with the pants too!

Well, that's about it for this blog! Till next time,

Goodbye and Happy October everybody!

Photo Gallery 

I have been playing around with the settings on our new camera, so I made this black and white picture of me with a green flower in my hair!

 

I went outside yesterday to see the sky, and this is what I saw!

 

Our family went on a walking tail, and saw this very colorful spider in a web. The spider was huge! This is the first time I’ve willingly gone near a spider, thought it was cool, or taken a picture of one! But here it is:

and here's its web

baby on walking path

Baby and mommy

Feast of the guardian angels-we made angel food cake, and stuck homemade angels in it!

Baby playing drums-noisy!

poem, books, beach

written Friday, September 27

(It took awhile to select pictures to share with you!)

 

Hey everyone! So, are you ready to read this week's blog? Get ready! I have written a cool poem, and a book report on this history book called Factory Girl.

In poetry, I was learning about stressed and unstressed syllables.  To read the poem focusing on that, clap on the bold syllables and snap on the others.  :-)

A Smile From a Flower

There was once a pretty flower

And it sat there by a tree.

And hour after hour,

It would smile back at me.

So ev'ry day I'd go back

to under the tree and sit.

And as it smiled at me,

I would smile back at it.

Here's the link to my Factory Girl book report:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BypPK1qIEGuTTVZzWG9uUjFTcUU/edit?usp=sharing

Did you like it? I hope so!

Last week, I mentioned I was writing a review of a book I read for Confirmation prep. Here's that review: 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BypPK1qIEGuTaVY5XzJxOTJkVzA/edit?usp=sharing

Yesterday, Baby and I had some fun with food coloring and paper towels. We used coffee filters and markers to make pretty flowers. Then, we “tie-dyed” paper towels and made peacocks with them. After that, we made a “tree” out of toilet paper rolls, blue tape, and tooth picks to attach the creations to. Here it is! While squeezing the paper towels-soaked-in-dye out, my hands got a little stained...to say the least! Haha! here's a picture of them:

This is now the centerpiece of our kitchen table!

Another fun thing I should mention is that last week our family went to the beach with my grandma. It was SO much fun! Here are only some of the pictures from that awesome vacation! 

 Grandma, Mom, Me

Baby playing in what she called the "baby beach"

my sea monster

one of the cool things in the condo

souvenirs...anklet & super cool flip-flops!

Photo Gallery

with my Grandma <3

baby made an ice pack into a crown, lol!

"matching" stripes :-)

Baby doing Algebra with me

Baby wanted to be Mother Mary with Baby Jesus & St. Joseph

Baby "reading" Science!

I'm really getting into taking cool pictures... here are a few

Till next time!