Haiku

Last week of sixth grade*
Will be spent taking exams
Oh, cruel irony!

*Our last day of school is on Thursday of next week (teacher workday on Friday). Why can't it be now? :(

Mini Vacation

HOORAY! :):):) Mom just told me that we're heading up to the house of M, L, and S, blogger for Wii Little Movies for L's birthday! I'm excited because 1.I love traveling 2.I love relatives 3. Traveling is an excuse to chew gum. ;) I hope we will stay off the computer, play lots of Phase Ten (fun card game) and Monopoly, and hopefully make some Cousin Studios films. Speaking of Cousin Studios films, here are some highlights from The Ten Day Road Trip Of Awesomeness. :^)----[---{

Dwarf Hairstyling. J did pink, K did purple. I love the purple one's hair, don't you?

And, finally, the Music Club commercial. This is the second take; during the first one K threw a ball at J's head and yelled at her for using the Rock Band guitar. Ahh...good times.;);)

BLOG YA LATER!

Get Your Ice Cold Lemonade!

So here I am, getting the mail, minding my own business, when I hear a car drive by, followed by shouts of "LEMONADE! 25 CENTS A CUP!"
This can only mean one thing. I look down at the street corner of the third nearest cul-de-sac and see kids waving signs and screaming like crazy next to a table. A lemonade stand!

This was the scenario last Saturday, and I hopped on my scooter to check it out. Turns out, my friend S and some other girls were holding a stand- and after a ride around the block, there were 25 cent cookies too. Mom let me go over for a while, and after distributing origami fans all around, I was soon appointed to "patrol the streets." Translation: I was the one who yelled "CAR!" when someone drove near. I was even able to get a van from some company to pull over. I'd also tell people about our stand, too- an action that made one man buy so many cookies, we only had one left!

When there was a lack of customers, we'd run to a trampoline in the front yard, jump on it, and try to grab the nearest tree branch. It was fun- and it helped pass the time. S also told me about a remarkable feat they'd accomplished- getting the nieghborhood UPS truck to buy some lemonade. WOW!

The lemonade stand was a success! We made about $11 and hope to make some more sales soon- at the fall yard sale, perhaps? :^)

Dwarfs and DVDs

I'm back from our trip! From making recycled gadgets in Massachusetts to trying out the hilarious Plants Vs. Zombies game in New Jersey to playing laser tag for the first time in Ohio, I had lots to do everywhere!

And now, a Cousin Studios update......

Cousin Studios had great fun making a new series of videos called We Are The Dwarfs, starring two dwarf brothers with crazy pink and purple hair who live in the hills (and sometimes a Sweet Streets apartment). In Episode 1, the dwarfs go swimming and have a who-can-stay-underwater-the-longest contest. But later, they encounter The Monster Of The Deep Pool (who is really my cousin K). Will they escape the monster's clutches? Or will they suddenly develop super powers? Episode 2 takes place in Sweet Streets, where the dwarfs head to a hair salon after learning that they're having a bad hair day-the hard way. They meet the enthusiastically fancy hairdresser Charlene and her less then enthusiastic daughter Sammy, both intense fans of We Are The Dwarfs. But after settling into "the special chair," the brothers hear about an unsettling method of hairstyling known as "The Dunk Tank." What does it all mean?
We also made plenty of Behind The Scenes movies about dwarf styling, swinging, and pool balance games, plus a silent movie you won't see in the 1960s (think stuffed Pokemon, kids faking sleep, weird faces, unnecessary camera flipping, random talking, and laser lights jammed into something with no storyline whatsoever)! S has also been dropping some hints that as soon as he finishes his Poptropica help videos, he'll be moving on to Plants Vs. Zombies cheats.

Cousin Studios has a big problem, though. Read the following:

OH, WHERE DO I PUT MY 125 COUSIN STUDIOS FILMS?
by CJ

CJ: Hmm. I wonder how many Cousin Studios movies I have.
(counts)
CJ: Oh, gosh. I have 125!! These are going to clog up my computer- and besides, I want to share them with family. There's only one solution for this problem- YouTube!
CJ: Wait a second. What if they have age limits? Then I'd be arrested! I better check the website..
(duh duh)
(types)
(duh duh)
CJ: Safety....no. Privacy....no. Age restrictions....yes! (clicks)
(duh duh duh duh)
CJ: YouTube accounts are only allowed for kids....
(duhduhduhduhduhduhduhduh)
CJ: Ages 13 and up. Wait, did that say.....
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Mom: Why are you screaming?
CJ: YouTube is (sob) only for kids (sob) ages 13 and up! WAA!
Mom: Don't worry. Go to Tangle. It's a good social site.
CJ:(goes to Tangle): Mom, this site is for Christan videos. Ours don't really fall under that catagory.
Mom: Do too.
CJ: Do not.
Mom: Do too.
CJ: Do not.
Random Person Appointed As Narrator: Intermission!
To be continued...

In Massachusetts!

The first part of our trip is over, I'm in Massachusetts! I would post more, but my cousins want to play Pokemon Moon......they're really good at computer games , especially S of Wii Little Movies fame. PLEASE VISIT HIS BLOG! Bye!!!!

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

We interrupt this blog and the lives of its loyal, dutiful followers for a PSA, which, BTW (by the way) stands for Public Service Announcement. OK, there were TMA (too many acronyms) in there.....

THERE ARE 2 DAYS LEFT BEFORE OUR ROAD TRIP.
YES, I SAID 2.
YES, I AM NOT JOKING.
YES, I WILL TRY TO POST.
YES, WE WILL HOPEFULLY SHOOT MOVIES.
YES, I AM STUCK IN THIS BOLD FONT.
YES, I AM SIGNING OFF NOW......

Death By Heat In Virginia

It...is...so...hot!

Temperatures have gone to 104 degrees.
Swimming feels like pure joy.
Only a Sonic Campfire Blast can save us all!

That's your typical week this year- hot, hot, hot!

Mom heard me talking in my sleep one night. I mean, yelling in my sleep. Mom was in her room when she thought she could hear somebody (me) saying:
"It's too hot! It's...too....hot!"

Going outside would melt you to pieces- trust me, I tried! I sat under a shade spot in our swing chair, wrote a poem about hot weather (obviously), slammed into a tree, and after spending 10 minutes there, gave up!

And I can't wait for August. Note my sarcasm.

I have considered starting a yard sale with origami fans to get money to go to youth group retreats.

Caramel ice cream is in hot demand.

I'm so tired, I can barely type...these...sentences.....

Typical.


Will we survive?Tune in next week to find out! And now, yet another commercial for a GMC vehicle we don't really need......

Ketchup Time!

What happened in the last few weeks...

CJ graduated! I'm going to middle school this fall. On the last few days of school, everyone celebrated with a bowling outing, a picnic with pizza, and goody bags stuffed with pencils, goodbye DVDs, gum, candy, and (sigh) advertisements from local sponsors. Then, school was finally over! Done with! Gone!
After that, I took a volleyball camp (OK, I guess) and a water camp where we got to play with sprinklers and slime and bubbles for a few hours (fun fun fun!) After that, my cousins came to go to our annual family reunion at a beach house at the Outer Banks!
We had a great time! We swam in the ocean, which was incredibly freezing for about 5 days in a row. We swam in the pool, forever playing Category and Shark. Later, we'd get in the hot tub. This year, we had color-themed days. Our family had Green Day (not the annoying, bad-word-using band). Mom made Mexican tacos! There were also a lot of games of Beano, Solitaire, Dutch Blitz, Pokemon Monopoly (with powers when you rolled doubles), and Werewolf (a slightly scary\gruesome but fun card game). Add in some "oranges" (parts to a game), a sudden rainstorm, lots of glow sticks, water balloons with smiley faces, a walk on the beach at night, volleyball, homemade board games, and our cousin L's return from a wedding in Wisconsin, and it was a memorable vacation! I'm still trying to cover everything in my sketchbook.
Cousin Studios Update: We recently started shooting our 5th film: Woman versus "Wild." Abby Sunlaw is a typical ten year old girl, but when she spends a night in her backyard, she'll face incredible challenges. Jumping off the bottom step of her front porch, fending off wild mosquitos, and finding some salt for her dinner are just some of the obstacles in her way. Can she do it? Find out-after the commercial break.
After getting home, 4 of our cousins stayed at our house, where we had more adventures. We headed to a baseball game\ fireworks show and were up until 12:00, saw Toy Story 3 (it has a shocking ending, but my lips are sealed), went to Sonic, and had feetball tournaments. I'll have to post the beginner's guide on this blog sometime around. Plus I got my Tdap shot, which didn't hurt as much as I thought it would.
And now that everybody's left- and that I've concluded this post- I'm just sitting around, folding origami dresses ( THANK YOU FOR THE AWESOME KIT GRANDMA AND GRANDPA!!!), reading, sketchbooking, writing letters, and dreaming about our upcoming ultimate 10-day road trip in August....

Video Crazy!

Oh yeah, did I mention that another wonderful part of summer is pulling out a camera and shooting random videos of your yard at 7:30 pm?


Ever since I found my camera in a back corner of my closet with dead batteries, I've been shooting videos of unusual topics, including me chasing my sister, upside down places (created by flipping my camera upside down), and other things. After charging the batteries, that is. And yesterday, my neighbor and I shot 40-something wacky ones involving us playing sports, jumping off swings, and running. Boy, were there a lot of ones 0f us running! I would post one, but I can't for privacy reasons. S0 here's a different one I took on vacation while we drive past "South of The Boarder" on the way to Georgia...


(aka The Tackiest Landmark Of The South...)
Blog ya later!

Relaxed Days

Gotta enjoy these days while they last! Lounging in the hammock, reading, listening to Nationals games, homemade strawberry ice cream...

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!

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

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!

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.....

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!

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"!!!