We Wish You A Merry Christmas.....

We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
And a happy New Year!

The trip to NJ
Will often appear
On my blog in the next four days
To give bloggers great cheer!

Now give me a lot of comments,
Now give me a lot of comments,
Now give me a lot of comments,
And write them right now!

I won't stop until I get some,
I won't stop until I get some,
I won't stop until I get some......

"CJ!!!!!!!!"

"I'm coming!"

(Let's just say we're a little behind on our cookies...)

A Day In The Artic Tundra

The animal tracks in the neighbors' yards looks like a caravan of squirrels were doing a happy dance in the newly fallen snow last night. They are right next to holly trees bending over to make hideaways, my tracks from sledding this morning, and suspicious looking lumps in the fields of white. Logs? Rocks? I don't know and I won't know until I come back later this afternoon. All these snowy landmarks are whooshing by- my secret fort, the partially frozen swampland, another lump or two. It will take forever just to get my sled up the hill.
There's my friend going sledding with his dad. Sometimes I wish I had a plastic sled like his, it would be so easier to carry. Soon it's good-bye to him as well and he joins the others on my mental map of things I've seen. My boots are filled to the brim with ice that couldn't have possibly gotten there. How many lumps to the driveway? How many? HOW MANY?
I pass another friend's house. They're going away for winter break, and I wish they were here. I remember how we hiked in the woods together during the big snow in March and discovered a hidden world filled with endless hiding places and snow-covered trees. When are they coming home, anyways? This joins the sea of unanswered questions in my mind, which turns into a tsunami. Suddenly my little map of the Island of Landmarks is flooded.
But then one image floats onto my island: the driveway. And I'm there! And I'm home! And-I'm alive.
Now, how to get those frozen boots off.....

98.1 Headlines

Blah, Blah, economy,Blah, Blah
Blah, Blah, swine flu,Blah, Blah
Blah, Blah, Ukrops has been sold,Blah, Blah

OH WAIT- That's not Blah Blah news about Ukrops!

Waaaaaaaahhh!

COMMERCIAL BREAK
Kmart.......
Target......
Kroger.....
Support the troops.....
Jewelry....
Win a cruise.....

MUSIC BREAK

Jingle Bells
Jingle Bells
Jingle all the way......
(we know the rest)

Back to the news......

Oh yeah, just to inform you that VIRGINIA where it almost never snows is getting a 100% chance of snow, and then it might snow 12-16 inches tomorrow in the evening and maybe a little bit on Christmas Eve too.....


WAHOOOOOOOOOO!

Christmas Time

Break in a few more weeks
Reddened and rosy cheeks
Kitchen with smells so good
Christmas trees made of wood
Nativity up high
So my sister won't spy
Closets packed head to toe
With secrets I don't know
Chestnuts upon a fire
Songs from the local choir
Favorite books in a bin
Visiting all our kin
Candy canes please a crowd
Santa's truck is so loud
Homemade gifts stowed away
Until it's Christmas Day
Decor lights up a bush
Stars sail by with a hush
Hauling out winter gear
2010 is here!

Post A Comment Saying Yes....

......if you are going out of town for the holidays.
Sorry! Very busy with Christmas gifts right now!

Time Flies.....

it was
a hot November afternoon
my neighbors and i were hiking by the creek
i was being tour guide
showing the landmarks
of the woods
that one of them had never seen before
because it wasn't in his yard.

then
we heard a cry
from somewhere else around the bend
yelling
"h2o!"

it was the boy
who hid among the various trees
letting his anger
sizzle away.

we kept hiking
and figured out why he had
yelled his cry. there was
a new river
that we had never seen before
curling toward the trees
and branching away.

and he was stuck on the other side.

so we built a bridge
with a huge big stick
and just as he was about to walk across
my mom called my name.

my mom didn't know where i was
but she knew i was in the woods
but that wasn't enough.

i raced home
dragging my pants in the mud on the way
and bogging my shoes down
and rescuing them later
while running by the huge tree
then to the log pile
then to the driveway
then up to my own back porch.

my mom let my shoes sit outside
and threw my clothes in the wash
just like she did when we had that water fight.
and when i showed her the map i drew
of the new terrain
she thought it was quite amazing
but thought we weren't on the boundary line
like when we discovered what the environmentally protected area is.

and to think it happened
at least
two weeks ago.

CJ's Highly Unusual Thanksgiving

MORNING
1.Eat breakfast
2.Brush teeth
3. Get dressed
4. Watch the parade! Lots of cool floats and bands and a new Santa float this year!
5.Eat lunch
AFTERNOON
1. Watch football
2.Walk around the block
3.Watch some more football
4. Play with my sister
5.Shower
6.Change
NIGHT
1. Eat the annual Crazy J Dinner, which includes bacon, berries, bagels, spaghetti, green beans, sweet potato somethings, bread, and pork.
2. Do the annual "What we are thankful for" round around the table.
3.CHOCOLATE PIE!
4. Watch Electric Company
5.Brush teeth, change
6.Play in my fort
7. Watch Iron Chef America
8. Bedtime!

I Have

I have
I have
I
h
a
v
e
have
writer's block
it's not a block of writers

writerswriterswriters
writerswriterswriters
writerswriterswriters

it's an awful
d
i
s
e
a
s
e
that turns interesting things
into

boring dumb stuff

it is a monster that
LOVES
turning
wonderful writers
into one of it's kind
stamping with fury
because
they
ran
out
of
good
things
to
write.

A Broken Down Computer

My computer is typically nice and sweet. But recently, it won't let me send any emails to people! And a few days later, I typed in a post, saved it, pulled it up later, published it, and this is what happened:
20%20202020
Yes, my annoying computer broke down AGAIN! Time to call in our household mechanic (a.k.a. Dad). I am actually typing this post on my sister's computer. I'll try to get the real deal up as soon as I can!

Itch, Scratch, Itch

I%20am%20suddenly%20getting%20stressed%20whenever%20I%20go%20on%20the%20computer.%20First%20it%20happened%20when%20I%20was%20typing%20my%20report%2C%20now%20it's%20happening%20as%20I%20try%20to%20think%20of%20something%20to%20type!%20I%20feel%20itchy%2C%20scratchy%2C%20itchy%2C%20and%20very%20sweaty.%20I%20think%20I%20better%20stop%20blogging%20and%20go%20outside%20and%20play%20sports%20with%20my%20neighbors%20or%20hike%20in%20the%20woods%20or%20find%20a%20river%20or%20make%20a%20map%20or%20make%20Christmas%20gifts%20or%20read%20a%20book%20or%20fold%20an%20airplane%20or%20shoot%20a%20movie%20or%20use%20the%20bathroom%20or%20STOPPPPPPPPPPPP!%0ABlog%20Ya%20Later!%Pr

The Rocky Tower

Today at recess, my friends Soso, S, and I went over to the far corner of the playground by the woods when we got a surprise. Somebody had been there before us, and they had raised all the playground rocks in the area to make a giant raised platform! It looked exactly like a tower! We kept looking around, and we saw 2 more in the area. Before sitting down, I dug pathways from one island to the next, and S made footbridges to connect the island towers. Then we all sat down to watch the football game. I spy something to FINALLY do at recess!

Quick Poll

QUESTION: How many Thanksgiving advertisements have you seen so far?
How many Christmas advertisements?
I've seen about 5 Christmas and 0 Thanksgiving.
Post your answer on the comments page!

The reason that I'm asking this is that I'm surprised that none of those giant stores are talking about their big Thanksgiving sale.
And speaking of ads, here's a Cousin Studios one about a school called Kentucky University.

The Fads Return

Ah, 5th grade is here and everybody is trying to make the most of it with some FADS! Here are some of the clubs, media, fake products, etc. so far...

1. Paper Punch World. Paper Punch World was a land of notebook paper folded shops, where paper punched people, animals, and food lived. There were tourist signs that decked our desks, encouraging kids classwide to be creative!
2. Eraser Hotels. It has become a very popular trend in Mrs. C's class for kids to organize their desks and decorate them with beads, posters, bottle caps, and paper accessories so they look like hotels. And on Fridays, if your erasers are taking up space in your desk, you can send them to these hotels for a weekend stay and they'll get returned on Monday!
3. Magical Llama Beans. This product was fake, but it raised a lot of attention! Two girls made up a fake product that turned you into a llama, and before long, the class went crazy! A few kids made up their own products, like Taco Balls and Magic Fries.
4. The Secret Spy Society. My friends Soso, J, and I made a club that took place at the top of the playground slide, where we watched the happenings of recess. If there was too much gossip or a dodge ball fight, the Secret Spies would investigate!
5. The Playground Olympics. During the last week of September, lots of kids got together to sign up for unique, crazy, invented sports contests. If you didn't want to play sports, you could always broadcast the game!
6. The Home Run Derby. We have invented a new sport. It's kind of like a home run derby. L and C shag balls, E and S pitch, S also catches, and I keep score!
7. The C Chronicle. Our class started a student- run class newspaper. Anyone can drop an article in the box hanging from my desk as long as it's appropriate. So far we have an advice column, games, sports, class news, comics, Soso's Local column, and just plain stories! I can't wait for it to come out!
So anyways,
(in newspaper font...)
Blog Ya Later!

Dusty Jorunals

For our contest, the winner who got the closest to the actual answer was.... Chatty Kelly!
Here were the actual answers....
Green House: Nobody! Just the plants.
White House: The President!

And now, back to the post.

Help! I can't get out of this font! I guess I'll have to type the rest of the post in it!
Unless I can think of something while in the bathroom.
One second, please...
...
OK. I'm done using the toilet. I didn't come up with any ideas of how to get this font off except to click the button over and over.
1.Didn't work.
2. Didn't work.

3. Sorry, more technical difficulties! It didn't work.

So let's just continue.....

Despite my computer's craziness...

I haven't been blogging lately because I have the dreaded Writer's Block. Even the stuff that might be interesting to you suddenly isn't to me! Here's what suddenly became boring before I blogged (Aak! Too many B's!):
1. I've been doing a report on sea stars.
2.I'm entering a poster about drug and alcohol abuse into our school contest.
3. Our class is having a contest to see who can think of the most baby names.
4. E and N beat S and L in our fake World Series baseball tournament at recess.
5. I just turned our Cousin Studios videos into 8 and 9 minute movies on Imovie.
6. Our entire trip to Maryland just got stuck in my sketchbook.
7. Everything else!
Darn, now I have to go downstairs and eat. Please be patient......
...
I'm back from breakfast.
So anyways, today I knew the only way I was going to be able to post today was if I copied something from one of the dusty journals in my closet. Mom says I have more than a college graduate! I thought I'd share a poem with you from my 3rd grade journal called Wind's Blow.

Wind's Blow
The wind blows when the
clothes are wet. It blows
the leaves of trees off
and sometimes branches.We
have to hold onProxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0

o
our hats.
Sometimes the wind is
angry and it's a
tornado! The trees fall
down and houses rip
apart. The plants and animals
are scared until the
storm's over.
The kids are wearing jackets
and the air is getting
chilly. The forecast
says it's going to rain
down
down
down
all because
of the
wind.

Well, that post was more than I expected.....

Contest!

I am posting a riddle on my blog.
Post whatever you think the answer is on the comments page.
The winner will get a mystery prize!
Q: There are 7 houses on a street. They are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple,and white. Mr.Red lives in the red house. Mr.Orange lives in the orange house. Mr.Yellow lives in the yellow house. Mr.Blue lives in the blue house. Mr. Purple lives in the purple house. Who lives in the green house? Who lives in the green house?
Good Luck!
Blog Ya Later!

Extreme Makeover: Desk Edition

My friends and I enjoy building "Eraser Lands" at school. We take our erasers, draw faces on them, and build a world for them in our desks out of bottle caps, desk tools, and paper accessories, including paper punch pets and food. But sometimes, it gets our desks just a tad bit messy! Recently, though, I looked in a friend's desk and noticed her awesome world but messy desk. But we've changed that!We put all her school supplies on one side so she has a giant area for her to build her world in. She now has a hotel with a TV\Laptop area, little cafe, and sleeping zone with a chandelier made out of a paper clip and beads! You can even give her erasers at the end of the day for an "overnight" and then she'll return them!Someone else is getting a rock and roll arena in their desk next. I can't wait to get started!
Now I will put the first photo ever on my blog, of some past erasers.....
...
Updated: The photos cannot download on my computer. ARGH! Sigh...

Well, anyways,
BLOG YA LATER!

Movie Madness!

Here is one of the videos we shot at the W house. This one's called Zip line International!
(S is working the controls, I'm holding the camera and narrating.)

I'm Back!!!!

Finally- back from Maryland! I shall now present to you the top 3 Maryland activities:
1. MOVIE MAKING. While we were in Maryland, we made two new movie series called The Great Webkinz Camp-Out and Classroom Girls. We also shot several little videos including, but not limited to: The Ship Takes Off, The Thing, Cameras, Polly World Fashion Shoot, Mr. Jones.
2. FORT BUILDING. We built 2 tents. The one M slept in had a secret tunnel and plenty of storage, and L and I's had an electronics shelf and a "closet". On the last night, we all got together and had a sleepover in S's room!
3. SPYING. We did a lot of spying in the W house, but it wasn't for revenge, it was just for fun. L and M stayed hidden upstairs in our forts while S and I went downstairs to shoot pictures of evidence. We used walkie-talkies, too!
Some other activities we did were playing in the computer, playing with dolls, reading graphic novels, having sleepovers, going to church, and celebrating L's 11th birthday!
As soon as I get them downloaded, I'll be sharing some videos with you!
What did YOU do this weekend?

An Update

There are so many things to blog about, I think I need to use this post to cover them all!
1. The Playground Olympics. Here are the explanations for our Mystery Games:
Snakepole is a game in which you twist around poles like snakes. Crash into your competitors and you are eliminated!
Hoop Roll is a game where you must roll the hoop to the other team. If they miss it, they earn a miss. Whoever has less misses at the end of the game wins!
Jump Roping was just a simple game of who can go the longest without tripping up on the rope.
Running was a simple race with a few obstacles.
2. This weekend, Mom, my sister and I went to the pumpkin patch and picked out five pumpkins in their enormous field, which had scattered scarecrows and old sheds surrounding it. Then we headed back to their little shop and bought 4 more. We got a good deal on them, too: they were only 20.00 all together! Next we went to Cici's Pizza and had a pizza lunch before driving to our church to set up for Mom's bell choir. I like spending weekends with family.
3. I'm visiting my cousins in Maryland for L's birthday! I made her a neat gift and card (but I won't drop any hints about it in case my aunt is visiting the blog). I also am bringing my video camera so S and I can do some serious shooting. He enjoys making Lego Star Wars movies. Check out his blog, Wii Little Movies! And there is no need to worry about bringing princess dolls for M to play with with the amount they have at their house....

What are YOU doing?

The Playground Olympics

During recess, a group of girls and I are doing The Playground Olympics!
(Note: Some people competed in very little events, so they have less medals.)
L: Gold Medal in Snakepole, Silver Medal in Hoop Roll, Bronze Medal in Jump roping, Silver Medal in Running.
J: Silver in Snakepole, Silver in Hoop Roll.
Soso: Silver in Hoop roll, Silver in Jump roping.
M: Silver in Hoop Roll.
CJ (me) : Silver in Hoop Roll, Gold in Jump roping, Gold in Running.

Can you guess what these crazy events are? Leave me a comment guessing what they are and we will reveal the guesses (and answers) in the next post!

Grandparent Visit

My grandparents came for a visit! The were stopping at our house for a day after driving to Tennessee for a vacation. While they were at our house, we went out to a pizza parlor for dinner and looked at photos of their trip to Elvis's house. Then we looked at videos from my cousin's film company, Cousin Studios. I'm going to share one of our many advertisements.
Hey! That makes this post my first video post! YAY!
Anyways, here's the ad:



This ad is for an insurance company called Jonson and Jonson. You might have to turn the volume up to hear my husky voice, and the "insurance agent" (it's really my cousin J) isn't as serious as you'd think......


Blog ya later!

It Must Be Fall....

When the posts are longer,
the wind is stronger.
When the posts begin to lengthen,
the cold begins to strengthen.
And when blogs are awesome,
there's not a single blossom.

63

63
The giant number that you see is how many bundles of crayons we collected for kids in need!

HOORAY! HOORAY! HOORAY!

I Love To Paper Punch

Lately, I've been doing a fun craft- paper punching! I paper punch animals, food, and other things and add them to the growing city on my group's desk at school.
I sit at a table at school with 4 other nice girls. Together we have constructed a place called Paper Punch World. Here are all the cool features:
1. An announcement board.
2. The sidewalk.
3. SC's Pets. This is a store that sells paper punch animals.
4. LF's Food Store. A food store that we're still making food for!
5. The Jackpot Toy Store. This store sells paper punch animals, toys, and food.
6. The Eraser Hotel. A bed and breakfast inn you can send your erasers to. It features tables made from bottle caps, beds made from erasers, and hippie posters hanging from the wall...
7. The Tourist Center. Still under construction....
8. The Recycling Bin! When we have old math worksheets, old spelling papers, etc. we put them in the Ziploc bag hanging from SW's desk and they later get used as building materials. This feature makes our little world 100% GREEN!
Got any other ideas?

Choosing Colors

My parents are painting the family room red. They brought at least 5 color sample sheets home from Home Depot.
Here are the colors they brought home:
Cool Melon
Youthful Coral
Lipstick
Red Tomato
Modestly Peach
Candy Mix
Coral Expression
Daredevil
Coral Serenade
Sahara Sun
Mineral Red
Roasted Pepper
Rosy Outlook
Peony Pink
Red Jalapeno
Briquette
Pink Eraser
Cheery
Firecracker
Poinsettia
Here are the colors we are trying to decide between:
Red Tomato
Daredevil
Here is the color that will probably win:
Daredevil
Thinking of names for paint colors sounds like an interesting job. In fact, I bet I could think of a lot of names for red.....
Raspberry Jam
Fire Truck Red
Brick Red
Scarlet
Red Rock
Ripened Apple
Valentine Red
Island Bird
Burned Pink
Saucy
Baseball Stitch
Sunset
Tropical Flower
Crayon Red
Fiery
Red Laser
Crimson
Cranberry Juice
Anger

Too many colors to choose from......

Comfortable Evening

My mom and my sister and I walked around the block. We watched sprinklers and kids and looked at neighborhood landmarks. Then we did our chores and had a nice dinner of spaghetti with homemade sauce. For dessert, we filled the car with blankets and drove to Sonic, where we ordered Sonic Blasts and milkshakes. We peeled off the Limeades for Learning stickers so we could go on their website the next day.
Then we took a little drive around other parts of our neighborhood. We saw teenagers partying at the Lakeview Pool and fancy houses at Stephen's Manor. Then mom showed us some of the houses that she thought were interesting. Then we went home and brushed our teeth. My sister and I ran downstairs, hoping that Mom would let us stay up later.
She did. That night, we talked and talked until out mouths hurt. We laughed at old photos on the digital frame. We waited for Mom to whisk us upstairs, but she was so caught up in the talk that he forgot about the time.
We finally headed up to our bedrooms many minutes later. We fell asleep and dreamed about the comfortable evening.

Finally! The Weekend!

Finally! The weekend is here!
Now I can do all those creative projects I was planning to do......
1. Make origami
2. Do paper punch art
3. Hang out with one of my neighbors and draw
4. Melt crayons. And while I'm still on this topic, I'd like to thank everyone who donated crayons! You helped us a lot!
5. Find some way to get Mom's permission to make a paper-maiche sculpture out of bathroom cups
6. ?
7. ?


Okay, I think I have enough now!

Welcome!

One of my friends started a blog! Her name is Soso, and you can find her blog by clicking on the link that says soso's prose on it on my blog list.
Happy blogging, Soso!

Math Is SO Confusing!

Q: If a triangle has 2 right angles, then it isn't a triangle. For some mysterious reason, it's impossible. The triangle I'm dealing with looks like a triangle, but it's not now because it has 2 right angles! So what shape is it now?
A: ??????

I don't know the answer! A lot of you wise bloggers probably know, but I don't! It just goes to show you that math is SO CONFUSING!

Blogging Buzz

I told one of my friends about making blogs, because this friend is VERY creative. She said she wanted to make one and check out mine. Soon, we told another friend and she wanted to do it, too! It looks like we all have the blogging buzz! I hope they start blogs, because then I'll have two new blogs for my list!

Party Bus

Q: Today, on my bus, the radio was playing an awesome song. Everyone was singing along or yelling, "TURN IT UP!" There were a lot of hand motions going on, i.e. doing the wave, waving hands, etc. Everybody was getting into it. Then, at our stop, all of us ran out screaming. We raced each other to our houses, laughing and talking. What day is it?
A: Friday.

The Festival Of Origami

Yesterday was the first day of school, and my friends on the bus know what that means. IT'S ORIGAMI TIME!
Starting last year, we decided to give out origami on the first day of school, the last day of school, and every other Tuesday. We started doing just that yesterday. I lugged an empty cheese ball container full of cranes, boats, bunnies, turtles, tables, airplanes, sleds, flowers, flower darts, journals, pencils, cat heads, star boxes, parrots, picture frames, and penguins on the bus. Everyone got free origami! Everyone loved it! I can't wait for next Tuesday!
Blog you later!
5th grade rocks!

10 Annoying Things About Summer

Even though I like school, it's hard to get into back-to-school mode, so why not make it easier to say "bye" to summer by listing ten annoying things about it?
1.Mosquito bites.
2. Next-door neighbors. They aren't annoying, they are my friends. They weren't home to play this summer.
3. Early bedtimes.
4. Websites that make websites. I'm looking for a place to put my Cousin Studio (my cousins and I have a fake filming company) videos. Why not post them on the Web for everyone to see? Only problem: Practically every website maker out there is too easy, too hard, or too expensive!
5. Thunderstorms at 2:00 in the morning.
6. The Crayon Project. The project isn't annoying, but hardly anyone donates crayons!
7. Going food shopping. This is partly why I never saw my friends this summer.
8. Hardened lemonade powder that won't come out no matter how hard you push it!
9.NO HOMEWORK!
10.NO SCHOOL!

Wow, I'm ready to kiss summer good-bye already! That really worked!

Fun With Trains

Two of my friends, A and S, came over today. We had a great time playing together, because one of the only things we did was play with toy trains! By the end of our playdate we had constructed 2 railroads! Here they are:
A's railroad: Monster Railway. This was kind of a work center for trains. It had a hill, a bridge, a tunnel, a harbor, stations, and even a shed for the train that A made all by himself. It used to have another bridge the trains went under and a workstation. Now we know how big the power of a single innocent foot can be.
S's railroad: The Children Railroad. This railroad was supposed to be a kiddie attraction. It featured a train track with block walls, a hill, a Waterworks Workshop, a place where you could watch construction vehicles at work, a playhouse, and a visitor center. This place was REALLY fun to build. S's mom liked it, too!

We've been thinking about doing something like this: Every time they build a railroad on one of our playdates together, we'll give them a ticket. Then they can buy homemade gifts with their tickets at the Railroad Store. I can't wait for A and S to come again so we can try this out!

summer is...

a poem by Claire

chalk sticks
ice cream licks
grass stalks
long walks
lemonade
lots of shade
tire swings
butterfly wings
basketballs
free for alls
pretty flowers
long hours
bathing suits
yummy fruits
car drips
rain drips
pretty sights
quiet nights
fireflies
tired eyes
moonbeams
sweet dreams

They Posted It! They Posted It!

Everybody here remembers The Crayon Project from The Sad Ballad of my Fingernail? Well, I recently sent in an article about the project which encouraged people to send crayons to me to our neighborhood newspaper. When the paper came to our house, I opened it to the 5th page and gasped. MY ARTICLE WAS THERE! I ran around the room shouting, "They posted it!" at the top of my lungs! Now those long afternoons might not be so long anymore- and we'll be putting them toward a good cause!

We Have A Winner!

The winner for Part 2 is....

dad!

Congratulations to everyone who played! You are all winners!

Trivial Pursuit:Part 2

We are doing part 2 of this quiz show!
The procedure is the same as before (Did you forget to see how to answer the question? Go to the post Trivial Pursuit.), but this time, the question is out of a WORD STUDY JOURNAL! Here's your question.....

Which word means: surgery on living animals, medical research that involves cutting into animals to study organs, parts, or diseases?

A. diversion
B.impediment
C.vivisection

Good Luck and Goodbye!

DING DING DING!

Remember that Trivial Pursuit blogpost?
Well...
We have a winner!
Congratulations to Chatty Kelly, who is now the winner of an amazing award....
THE BIG BRAIN AWARD!
Sorry that the picture won't upload....
Thanks for playing, everybody!

Trivial Pursuit

We interrupt this post for an announcement.......
CONGRATULATIONS TO MRS.H FOR BECOMING THE FIRST ONE OF MY MOM'S FRIENDS TO STOP TALKING WITH MOM AND GET INTO THE POOL WITH US AND PLAY FOOTBALL ON A PLAYDATE!
Thank you.
And now, back to the post.

After 2 days of vacation and no computer time since last Saturday (for reasons that do not concern you), I decided to do something that the people on this blog have never seen before.

A TRIVIA FACE-OFF!

I will write a question at the end of this blog, along with three possible answers. Post the letter of the one you think is right on the comments page. Whoever has the correct answer will win an award!
So, here's the question.....

What was the FIRST elected legislative body in America?
A.The General Assembly
B.The House of Burgesses
C.Congress

Good luck!

P.S. Special thanks to the person who made my Social Studies interactive notes, the source of this question.

Happy Birthday, Gigi!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GIGI.....
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really should be saying Happy Belated Birthday because her birthday was a few days ago, but I feel like it's her birthday today because we are coming over for a celebration!
Well, who cares about dates and times and things. I still will say.....
HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY, GIGI!

Our New Puppies

My little sister and I got puppies today!
OK, they aren't really puppies. They're just balloon puppies that we got at the dentist. But we are making them a home on a shelf. So far we put beds and food dishes in, but we aren't done yet! We might be adding some more furniture-and I might be blogging a bit more about this creative project!

Home At Last!

The last post I did before going off to Ohio and Maryland said that I would be blogging about all my adventures in each state.
Well, things didn't quite work out the way I planned. I did so many fun things on my trip that there was no time for blogging!
My cousins and I did a lot of fun activities together, such as playing Wii, watching TV, playing board games, playing outside, going out to eat, shooting movies, going to parks, camping, and more! When we got home, I began working on stories that told about what happened on our trip. Here is one of my favorites so far:
Day 2 in Maryland
6:30-Wake up.
7:00- My cousin S FINALLY wakes up. We shoot some videos together.
7:20-Head downstairs.
7:30-Another cousin, M, wakes up.
8:00-Another cousin, L, wakes up.
8:10-Play Summeropoly, a homemade family Monopoly.
8:30-Start my daily routine. Breakfast,brush,dress.
9:00-Play Wii.
12:00-Eat lunch and write a journal entry.
12:10-Blog a bit.
12:30-Head down to the basement with S to make a video game.
1:00-Test out the video game.
1:30-Take a break so we can take a hayride! WHEE!
1:35-Keep testing the game.
2:10- Do some major hayriding!
3:00-Keep testing- for a bit.
3:30-Uncle J comes home!
4:00- Play outside in the rain (it's really a hose) with M.
4:45-Take a shower. There's a storm coming.
4:50-Play on the computer with S.
5:00- L's best friend A comes over.
5:10-Dinnertime!
5:30-Head outside.
6:00- Come back in the house for dessert.
6:30-Come back out.
7:00 -Come back in. We'll be watching The Pink Panther.
7:10-Start setting up the room we'll be watching the movie in. We add pillows, blankets, and more!
7:30-Kill some time by reading.
7:40-Get PJs on.
7:50- A leaves- or so we think.
8:00- Get some more pillows.
8:01 Movie starts.
8:10- A returns! She'll be sleeping over!
9:45-Movie ends.
10:00-Brush teeth.
10:05-Bedtime!


Even after all my travels, I'm so glad to get back home!

Summertime Traveler

The biggest event of the summer is here....

The COUSIN TOUR!!

Where we'll be traveling through Maryland and Ohio using blogposts!

I'll be blogging about all the adventures I have with my family!

Now I've got to go. I promised Mom that I would go outside after this post. And I have to get my cousins off the Wii so they can come out with me. "We've been playing since 11:oo!" GRR......

Stuck

This poem/short story was written by me in 3rd grade. I thought it would be perfect for today, because I have writer's block.

Stuck

I can't write anything. It seems like my brain is rusty. Nothing in the class seems good to write about. A person? A poster? A pencil?
Maybe my brain lost it's power and all the sentences and words just drained out.... and I don't know where to get some more..... I know I shouldn't get some from another brain...
I hear the clock ticking. Every second, minute, and hour brings on the pressure. And while all the time passes, my brain drains some more, like bathwater in a tub. I hope I can think of something soon....soon....soon.........
Ding!
There goes the timer! Oh well. Maybe tomorrow my brain will be ready...

Don't Touch It!

I was swimming at the pool yesterday with Mom and my little sister. Actually, I think I better rephrase that. I was swimming at the pool with Mom and my little sister, and we were the only ones at the pool!
Even though there was nobody to play with, there was still a lot of room to practice my backstroke (yea!) and my sidestroke (boo!). We took snack breaks whenever the only lifeguard watching over us blew the whistle for adult swim. One time, when the lifeguard blew the whistle for free swim, I was about to get in the pool, but I stopped myself. The water looked so pretty and calm that I didn't want to get in!
But I wanted to swim, so I guess I had to step in and spoil it. I watched as the pretty, calm, water turned into waves.

Sigh....

Mom and I talked about it while practicing the sidestroke together. She said she felt the same way when she was a kid. It's the same thing as stepping in a fresh batch of snow: It looks so pretty that you don't want to ruin it, but you really want to play in it. Then when you start having fun, your yard begins to look messy and you start wondering why you ever stepped in the snow.
There are lots of things in life that involve the same scenario. Make a list with me:
pencils
food
journals (I have had big experience in THAT department!)
new shoes
art supplies
a book of tear - out coupons

While we continued to talk,Mom told me, "I think you have a blogpost coming on."

She was right.

Projects!!

Right now, I'm in the middle of blogging on my mom's computer, even though the internet access is up on my new computer. (Except I can't find Firefox yet! Help, Dad!) Bacon is sizzling in the background, along with the noise from my sister and her laptop. (Nick Jr. com- radio!)
I'm kind of surprised that I'm hearing all this noise, because right now I would typically be up in my room working on all the projects I have on my hands!
1. The Crayon Project. From reading my blog and my mom's blog, you know that I am making Crayon Cupcakes for kids in need. Mom wants me to write a letter to Gymboree asking them for colorful boxes to put some more cupcakes in.
2. My Fashion Magazine. I am not your fashion passion shopping fanatic model queen, but when I got the kit for making a fashion magazine, it involved doing several things that I like, so I decided to go for it!
3. The Beach Scrapbook. I started drawing these cute cartoon people doing stuff we did at the beach, and right now I am putting them in a beach scrapbook.
4. Defeating Aneoth. I know. This isn't really a big project. But in the Glider PRO world, Aneoth is one of the biggest, hardest, houses ever, and I WANT TO BEAT IT!

Right now, I would like to go back upstairs and work on one of these projects.
But I have some down time, so I can finally start to relax!

I think I'll go check on the bacon....

From The Calendar Of CJ

Sunday, July 19th
Visit our favorite ball team's stadium with Dad to watch them play a game.
Monday, July 20th
Play Monopoly with Mom.
Go to my swim lesson.
Tuesday, July 21th
Paint eco-friendly symbols on patches. We will later sew them onto Food Lion bags (Mom doesn't like being a walking advertisement! ).
Go to my swim lesson.
Wednesday, July 22th
Sew the patches on the bags.
Go to my swim lesson.
Have a pool play date with my best friends, Cici and Gigi.
Go to Sonic and get a Sonic Blast. YUM!!!
Thursday, July 23th
Go mini-golfing with Mom.
Go to my swim lesson.
Sew some more patches.
Sew a T-shirt pillow.
Friday, July 24th
Write a blogpost about all this stuff!

The Sad Ballad Of My Fingernail

Once upon a time...
There was a little girl. A ten year old, to be exact. And she LOVED to be creative.
I bet you can guess who that is.
Me.

One day, I was doing one of those projects that rates REALLY HIGH on the creative scale. At my church, we had been collecting school supplies for children who can't afford them. When we were sorting crayons one day, my friends gave me some broken crayons we didn't want to put in with the new ones. I took them home and peeled the wrappers off, cut the crayons up, melted them, and before long, we had brand new crayons that were ready to be donated!
There were some hard parts to this process, though.
1. Cutting the crayons up was hard work. Luckily, my mom was around for that part.
2. Even harder then cutting up crayons was the difficult process of peeling the paper off. If you peel too hard, crayon will get up your fingernail.
Oh, I remember those long, hard afternoons where merciless crayons jammed crayon into my screaming fingernails. Luckily, a couple of hard scrubs with Dawn dish detergent removed most of the nasty stuff from my fingers. But there was one finger that held on to the crayon bit it got stuck in it's nail. Mom and I tried every method in the book to get the crayon out.
1. Take out the crayon bit with tweezers. Did it work? Nope.
2. Scratch a bar of soap for a million hours. That didn't work, either.
3. Count on good old Dawn dish soap to save the day. I think you probably know this already, but NO! That didn't work either!
So currently, the crayon bit was stuck in my finger forever!

DU-DU-DU-DU............

The next day.......

We did a paint project.
A really, really big paint project.

We were painting an old shower curtain and turning it into an abstract beach painting. I enjoyed splattering colors everywhere to make a crazy ocean. When I was done, the ocean looked wonderful. But my hands looked like they had been caught in a paint spill.
"Oh no!" I wailed. "This paint will never come off."
"Wash your hands with soap and water," my mom said.
So I washed my hands off, and I was so happy when the paint disappeared. Now my hands were blank. No crayons, no paint, no nothing!
Until I looked at that one finger.
That finger Proxy-Connection: keep-alive
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at still has that little piece of crayon wedged in it.
Does anybody know a cure for ridding the finger of crayon?

Big Beach Blogpost!

I have not been posting in a while for two reasons.
1. This one isn't a big deal. The internet access was down.
2. This one is the big deal, the thing I'm going to be blogging about. I went to the beach.
Every year, our grandparents rent a beach house on the Outer Banks. Then we all go to the beach house together for a family reunion. This year, there were 5 big parts about the beach that everyone went crazy about. They were:
1. Theme Nights. Every year, we have things called theme nights. Each family gets to make up a theme for a dinner. For example, this year we had .....
*Bug Day, where we ate cheeseburgers and "flies".
*Cincinnati Night, where we ate foods inspired by a family-famous Ohio restaurant.
* A night where we did a kabob bar.
* A "Create Your own" night with sandwich and ice cream bars.
*And many more!!!!

2. The Beach And Pool. There is nothing our family loves to do more at the beach than to soak in a pool (or hot tub!) after a whole morning of sandcastles and surfing.
3. Little Extras. In our spare time, we would usually be doing a craft, watching TV, playing cards, playing Apples to Apples, or playing volleyball.
4. Our Special Outings. This year we made our annual trips to go to Jockey's Ridge, The Currituck Lighthouse, and Five Guys.
5. The Surf Club. My cousins and I LOVE bogieboarding and wave jumping. So we started a special club. We surfed by day and held meetings at night.

When I went home, I wrote lots of poems, lists, and stories about our experiences at the beach. But there was a special one I wanted to post on my blog. It's a list of terms that we used in the Surf Club a lot. It's called, "Surf Club Lingo."
Surf Club Lingo
baby wave- a tiny wave
mommy\daddy wave- a bigger wave
grandpa wave- a REALLY BIG wave
ghost wave-a very big big wave
tsunami-a very big wave that can do a lot of damage. They often happen in Japan.
Surf Club meeting- a meeting where the members of the Surf Club just play some type of game.
Oh, I want crabs for Christmas- a song we sing either when we are out deep in the water or when we are happy
Take me home country waves-a song we sing when we want thProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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waves to take us "home"
floater- a wave that is easy to float over
stopper- a wave that looks like it will take you very far but when you ride it, it doesn't
wave jumping- the art of jumping over waves



I hope some more summer adventures come my way.....

A Super Sleepover!

Gigi and I had a sleepover last night. It was AWESOME beacause not only did we have a sleepover, we had a playdate with Gigi's little sister, Cici, too! On our playdate, we jumped rope, played Statue and Hide 'n Seek, and ate brownies! But the real fun began when our sleepover came. We did plenty of fun things, and I have the list to prove it. We:
1.Played Monopoly. This is was only Gigi's first time playing Monopoly, yet she creamed me. She had at least $1,000. I had $100.00- or less.
2. Played Glider Pro. Gigi says she isn't very good at Glider Pro yet. But I don't believe that. She is beating ME ( yes, me, a very good player) on the house Paper Palace.
3. Made Shaved Ice. I have a slushie maker at my house, so we decided to whip up some watermelon and blue rasberry slushies.
4. Made Paper. Yes, we made paper. Gigi got me an awesome gift. You can reuse old paper that you don't want and turn it into new paper! VERY eco-friendly.
5. Played With Random Toys. We tested out a dollhouse, dolls, play food, and a Kerplunk-like game before the night was over.


Overall, it was a pretty super sleepover!

Summer To-Dos

Sorry that I have not posted for a while! There are just so many projects I have been doing!

Things I've Been Doing:
1. Cleaning Out My Saturday Drawer. Every time I bring something downstairs, Mom puts it in my Saturday Drawer. I have to bring the whole boatload of stuff in my drawer upstairs on Saturday.
2.Playing Glider Pro. I finally beat the house Imaginehouse!
3. Going Fishing. Dad and I went on a fishing trip to Lake Anna. Shrimp is good bait.....
4. Planning For The Beach. We are doing a sandwich/ice cream bar for our dinner night.
5. Getting My Neighbor's Mail. She is away a lot, so our family takes care of her mail when she wants us to handle it.
6. Blogging. Of course!
Things I Have To Do That I'm Going To Do:
1. Have a Sleepover. Gigi and I will have a great time!!!
2. Clean The Girls' Bathroom. I can't wait to use that mint toothpaste cleaning formula I cooked up!
3. Vaccum The Floor. There's only one time my room is messy, and that's after I'm done cutting paper. The floor DEFINETLY needs a vaccum right now!
4. Wash My Lunchbox. It's been with me through thick and thin......
5. Make Cookies! What's a trip to the Outer Banks without nutmeg logs, chippers, and scones?
6. Pack My Beach Bags. I have that one down later on my list. The beach trip isn't for a few days, but it's getting closer...
7. Go To A Gazillion Shops. ....for my Panteen haircut, new library books, etc.

I better stop blogging and start working!
More beach, home, and random summer updates to come when I'm done with my summer to-dos!

If I Didn't Look Up

a poem by Claire

Maybe I could've climbed higher, reached higher, and gotten to the top if I hadn't done what I did. Maybe I could've gotten the praise ,gotten the glory and gotten a bit more done if I hadn't done what I did. Maybe I wouldn't say "I'm ready to come down" so soon if I hadn't done what I did. What did I do? I simply looked up!

This poem was written after a trip to Challenge Discovery, where we climbed tall structures. I was ashamed of myself for looking up at the rest of whatever we were climbing because it looked odd up there, and the areas I thought I could reach looked harder to reach then I thought. I would always go down at this point. I did this on all my turns, so I never really made any progress. But I still had a lot of fun, and that's what really matters!

Class Fads

I love school, so I was really sad when summer came. Even though I am having fun, I can't wait to be back in a classroom again!! One of my favorite things that I like to do to help me remember my class is to pull out all the homeade magazines we made. Fourth grade was a creative year with all the fads, buisnesses, media, and clubs there were! Here's a list of some of my favorites:

Recently. Recently was a magazine I started. Some of the topics it covered were interviews, games, class news, fake elections, stories, poetry, and sports.
Kid94. Started by a group of classmates, this pretend radio station interviewed people, shared news, played music, and made up hilarious commercials!
Deskworld. A friend and I started this fun buisness. It sold fun desk toys, such as Desk Buddies and Desk Scrolls. Due to its lack of customers, it eventually closed.
Chalkworld. A group of friends and I were drawing our dream rooms on the sidewalk. This sidewalk of rooms soon had a greenhouse, a public graffiti board, shops, police, court, and a constitution. Chalkworld was born.
The Apples to Apples Club. Do you like playing Apples to Apples? I do! My classmates did, too. We played Apples to Apples together every chance we got!
Poster Boards. A lot of girls and I hung personalized posters and graffiti boards from our desks. Our desks looked awesome with all the decorations we hung from them!

Who ever knew that our class was so creative?

Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting....

My blog!

My new blog, to be exact.

Why am I so happy about this one little thing?

It's a long story.

Better get cozy.


Once, when I was about 8 or 9, my mother started a blog. She named it CREATE: Making Something Of Today! It was about friends, what was going on in her life, and biblical things. Sometimes I would write or do something intresting and she would write about it, but most of the time I would be away from her page.
Whenever I did something intresting and Mom didn't blog about it, we would engage ourselves in a conversation like this:

"MOM!!!"
"Yes,....."
"I made that really cool recycled crafts sculpture of a city and YOU DIDN'T BLOG ABOUT IT! ''
"I'll blog about it someday."
"That's what you always say!"

Then, Mom would usually say:

"If you want your thoughts and ideas to be on the web, why don't you start a blog?"

And I would finish our arguement by saying:

" IT'S GOING TO BE TOO HARD TO START A BLOG!"


Days passed. Then months. Finally, after a family trip to Belle Isle, I decided to start a blog. It sounded creative, and who knows, maybe Mom would stop bugging me about it!
I soon found out that making a blog was harder then it looked. Beacause I was so easily frustrated, I kissed my blog goodbye!!!

But during suProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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er, I turned ten. I soon felt like I was old enough to tackle making a blog. So I filled out some blanks, I chose some backrounds, and......


You know the rest.

Now you know why I'm so happy:

I can finally do the "impossible"!!!