Caden's Opinion Paper on Percy Jackson

PERCY JACKSON

THE BEST BOOK SERIES EVER!

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Since I was little, I have liked to read. I have read Harry Potter, Artemis Foul, and the Dragon in the Sock Drawer Series. Last year I discovered Percy Jackson. I knew that I should read it because I liked the movies. Now I’ve read the whole Percy Jackson series, and it is the best book series ever!         

The author of the Percy Jackson series is Rick Riordan. His books teach about Greek and Roman mythology. There are three main gods. In Greek form they are: Zeus the god of the sky, Poseidon the god of the sea, and Hadies the god of the underworld.  In Roman form they are Jupiter the god of the sky, Neptune the god of sea, and Pluto the god of the underworld. Percy Jackson (son of Poseidon) meets many other myths. One is medusa who can turn people to stone with her snake hair. Another myth is the Minotaur in the labyrinth.  He has the shape of a man but the body of a bull.  You do not want to get stuck in the labyrinth with the Minotaur.  Percy Jackson and most of his friends are demigods, which means their parents are a God and a mortal.

Percy Jackson’s adventures are all over the world. Percy Jackson almost died during a quest when he was fighting a monster on the St. Louis arch. Another time he went to Alaska to save Thanatos, the God of death. A different quest he went to the sea of monsters (the Bermuda triangle) to save his camp.

  Percy Jackson, the book, was so good it was turned into a movie.  Not one movie, but two movies with more to come!  The adventures, the knowledge of mythology, and the funny characters should make you want to read the Percy Jackson book series and Rick Riordan’s other books, too.

Jaelyn's Opinion Paper on Hamsters

Hamsters are the Best Pets Ever

Since I was little, I thought that having a hamster would be so cool. Whenever we went to the pet store, I always had my dad pick me up so that I could see all the hamsters.  When I was 10, I asked my dad if I could get a hamster. He said I could buy a hamster if I could be good for 3 months straight and save up the money. From then on, I was researching all about hamsters. Last year I saved up the money, I needed to own hamsters. I think that hamsters are the best pets ever!

Hamsters are not overly expensive. They don’t need to be walked so there’s no need to spend money on a collar or a leash. A hamster just needs a cage to live in. Hamster food only costs about $5 for a bag that lasts 2 months. They only need little sticks that you can get from outside and cardboard boxes that I get for free from the post office for chewing and scratching.

Hamsters don’t need large amounts of space. They only need a small cage that can fit in a bookcase. My hamsters are maybe 2 ½ inches at the most. My hamster supplies can fit in a small bin in my closet.

Hamsters are not that loud. A dog might bark and growl and a cat might meow and hiss but a hamster just quietly runs around its cage. I bought my hamsters a silent wheel and now I don’t hear a sound at night. When other animals eat or drink they might slurp or chew out loud, but a hamster just eats quietly.  

Hamsters are great pets to play with. I made a cardboard maze and put them in it. My hamster were so amazing to watch run throughout the maze. I put my hamsters in their balls and bring them down stairs to watch them roll all around my kitchen floor. Whenever I wear a jacket or long sleeves my hamsters race right up to my armpit. I have such great fun watching and playing with them.

Hamsters are the cutest animals ever!  The way that they twitch their noses like bunnies and rub their whiskers is just adorable.  When my hamsters eat they shove all their food in their cheeks and then their cheeks are fully loaded.  When I pick them up they spit it all out and their cheeks deflate like a balloon.  I carry my hamsters around on my shoulder like a parrot.  I just think it’s so cute.  Rats have long, ugly, pink tails, but hamsters either have little nubs like bears or little tails.  Their tails have fur on them so they are not ugly pink.  Hamsters have cute little black eyes that just make me want to kiss them.  They have great little feet that pitter-patter whenever they walk.

I was right. I have now had hamsters for 2 months and they are the best pets ever. To begin with, I got one, but I loved it so much that my grandpa took me back to the pet store to get a 2^nd one. It is very easy for me to take care of my hamsters, catnip and basil. Hamsters are the best pets that the world has ever seen.

            

Allie's Opinion paper about Blank Space

Blank Space

“Nice to, meet you, where you’ve been. I can show you incredible things.’’ Do you know where that’s from? It’s “Blank Space’’ by Taylor Swift, a music award winning star. I think “Blank Space” is the best song in the world.

            Blank Space has a good beat and rhythm. It calms me down to listen it in my room. The beat is not fast or too slow. At first you think it’s a mellow song and then you hear the loud beat of the drum. It makes you just want to move.

            I look up to Taylor Swift, the recording artist. I love the tone of her voice because it soothes me like the voices of angels. Taylor Swift has won 245 music awards. She even writes her own songs.

            Swift is a good story teller. I like the lyrics in “Blank Space”. They tell a perfect story of a kind of torturing love. The emotion in the lyrics me feel like I can see what’s happening, like in a TV show.

            I’ve listened to “Blank Space” about 100 times because it is magnetic. It has everything. It’s calm, soothing, and mellow. Then there are loud drums, guitar, and a good story with lots of emotion and feelings.

 

             

Macaroons

Jaelyn has spent the week reading cookbooks for macaroon recipes and learning about their history. She tried two different recipes today. Her first was coconut macaroons dipped in chocolate. Her second was almond macaroons that she planned to fill with chocolate. The coconut turned out well, but the almond was a total fail.

Projects

I know I've shared the quilt Jae made me for Christmas, but I thought Id share again since I finally hung it up. I see it every time I climb the stairs - several times a day. It's getting prettier with each passing day :)

I just finished a string quilt that I forgot to take a picture of before I boxed it for shipping (goofball). And now I've cut into my pretty Japanese parison material to make a new one block wonder. It looks like a jelly bean factory exploded so far.

Well Shucks

I was wrong. I was so excited that last friday was our halfway point. It wasn't. This Friday will be our halfway point!

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Some Christmas Pictures

I finally pulled our pictures from Christmas off my camera and I am disappointed.  My camera battery died after a couple of pictures and then I put down my camera phone so that we could FaceTime with Grandparents.  I'll have to find a chair to prop the iPad in next year ;).  Our pictures are very limited.

Hump Day of our School Year

Well, we jumped into school with both feet this week after our break.  There's was a full moon, Alton Brown's Devil's Food Cake with his chocolate frosting that I helped Caden bake for his birthday, and half a box of sweet tarts that disappeared.  Can you guess how our week went???  At least we got some work done in-between the arguing.  We wrapped up our American Revolution study with reports on an American Hero.  Did you know Ben Franklin once used electricity to kill his Thankgiving Turkey?  Or that John Paul Jones attacked a convoy of 42 merchant ships and won?  This week, the kids have chosen to macaroon (as in recipes for the cookies), Australian animals, and cannons.  I can't wait for Friday sharing.  After finishing up reading Half Magic by Edward Eager, we started the very heavy historical fiction book, My Brother Sam is Dead.  Next week we start our new World Geography series.  I think it's going to be fun.

Friday marked our 90th day of school.  We are halfway there.  I'm already torn about continuing next year.  Jaelyn thinks she wants to go to middle school so she's ready for high school.  I just don't know.  I'm already thinking ahead to a different co-op and studies for next year.  I guess I need to research transcript companies if we do decide to continue going on our own.  Allie and Caden both like homeschooling and talk like they want to continue.  We shall see.

Happy Birthday, Caden

My little man turns 10 today. Wow! He was truly God's little surprise. I love seeing the young man he's growing into. He's become very opinionated about his hair lately. After 10 years of buzz cuts, he wants it long so he can sling his bangs to the side. We are letting him because we really don't care, but he has to keep it short over his ears and off his neck. He absolutely loves to read, but writing continues to be a chore. His cursive is coming along. I'm hoping that'll make it easier. Caden started a mixed martial arts program a couple weeks ago. He loves it.

Here's the quilt I made for Caden's birthday. It has over 1,300 2" squares in it. The tag says "Like the force, my love will always be with you."

All Ready

Our classroom has been cleaned out and the planning for next week is done! I just hope nothing happens so we have get a full week in! The kids will be unhappy. No breaks in January, even if Daddy is home for a 4 day weekend over MLK's birthday.

One on One

I spend a lot of one on one time doing projects with Jaelyn, but I very rarely get to spend that same quality time with Allie or Caden. Well, today during some rough play, Caden ripped Allie's glasses off her face. They were pretty messed up so I took her to the mall to get them fixed. On a side note, we've lived here 6 months and this was my first visit to the mall. Anyway, LensCrafters opens late on Sundays so we wandered around a few stores discussing clothes. Afterwards, since we were out ;), I took Allie to lunch at Jason's Deli. She happily shared a Beefeater sandwich with me. We also did a little unmentionables shopping at Kohls. She's growing too fast. Thanks for the kohls cash, Baba.

This afternoon, the girls had neighborhood girls over, but all the boys were off somewhere else. Caden was bored so he helped me sew a special project. We spent an hour working together and he's made me promise to wait to work on it till he can help again.

These years are going to pass so quickly. It's hard to stop in the midst of the crazy to cherish it, but we should all take that time to realize how special it is.

Happy New Year

I can't believe it's January 3rd already.  Last fall just flew past as we tried to keep our heads above water.  We got knocked down again with a phone on December 17th.  We were shocked and so sad to learn my Uncle Clifford passed away.  I'm still in shock, honestly.  When my Grandfather passed away 18 years ago, Clifford, his half brother, filled that void.  I used to affectionately tease him that he was only a half great uncle.  We got to see him twice this fall: once on our vacation/Disney trip and again when we went home to help clean at Grandpop's house.  I'm going to miss our weekly phone calls.

The kids and I once again packed up on a Friday and headed south to Peachtree City, Georgia.  Clifford's funeral was the Saturday before Christmas.  Afterwards, the executor of his will let me go in his house to retrieve the quilt I'd made him for Christmas.  He wasn't supposed to, but he had opened it and seen the tag.  He didn't unfold it so he only saw a tiny bit of the back.  I hadn't posted a picture on my blog because he was my most loyal reader.  It's a string quilt made with nature prints.

Chirstmas was quiet and sedate.  I have pictures I'll try to post soon.  I'm taking a Facebook hiatus in order to dedicate more time to more important things (including sharing real stories here that my kids will love to read one day).

I know lots of friends like to pick a word to be their theme for a new year instead of making a resolution.  The word that keeps popping into my head is renewal.  I feel like I need to reset and get my focus back.  We need to start again with school.  The fall was so hard.  It was a blessing to be able to go and help and be there, but 4 trips South in as many months was hard.  We haven't made an effort to get involved in our community.  We know a few neighbors.  The kids have a few friends.  We've visited a few churches.  Nothing has really stuck because we haven't taken or had the time to dedicate to making this place our home.  It's time for a season of just being, settling, putting down roots.  That's what I want for our family for 2015!

The Nativity

Behold...it's a treasured thing of beauty that I will cherish for years. All the grownups helped to paint it and seal it. I think the camel is my favorite. I've already put in my wish list for Christmas next year - the last 3 pieces: an angel, a shepherd, and an ox.

This and That and Catching Up

My last post was about my Grandpa unexpectedly passing away. I've tried to blog since, but I've deleted everything. There are so many mixed up feelings about the issues my parents have had to deal with regarding the "step" family. After two very stressful weeks in Pensacola for the funeral and aftermath, my parents followed us back to Virginia. They had planned to come for Thanksgiving anyway. We stayed a little longer in Pensacola and they came a few days earlier. It worked out really well. Since we've been here, we've tried hard to get back into the swing of things with school and things like cooking. There's nothing like stress to make you wish you only had to deal with feeding your kids once a day :). I've have been working non-stop on a tshirt quilt for a client and my mom has been working madly on a present for Allie. I can't wait to share pictures. We also finished my nativity. It'll get its own post and managed to decorate for Christmas.

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Double Gotcha Day

Today marks 11 years side we became a family of 4. Jaelyn and Allie are wonderful, challenging, creative, energetic, hard strong, amazing girls. I love watching the young ladies they are becoming. It exhausts me, but I love it.

Jaelyn has been working hard at controlling herself in the last year. She's been researching gerbils and saving her money. Today, she earned the right to make her dream come true. I let her buy two Chinese dwarf hamsters. The one in her hand is Catnip and the one on the wheel meeting Zac is Basil.

A New Angel in Heaven

It's after 1:00 am. I need to go to sleep, but so many thoughts are swirling through my head. My grandpa passed away tonight. He fell a few days ago and broke his hip. He had surgery this morning and did great. He was resting well so my parents went home for the evening to sleep when they got the call. His heart just stopped beating. He was 93.

He's Growing

Caden finally had his new patient appt with our new doctor today. My little guy who has always been in the 5th percentile for height and weight is now is the 15th percentile and the 49th percentile for height!!! He's growing.

Allie is pushing the 70th percentile for height and weight.

And then there's Jaelyn still squarely on her 5th percentile growth curve.

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My Projects

Narratives

We are starting a narrative series in our writing book.  Today's assignment was fun.  We had to make a list of 4 unrelated things and had 10 minutes to write a story that connected them.  I wrote with the kids.  I've learned they are more motivated when I "school" along.

Our 4 things were

• a blue crayon
• a dead butterfly
• a jar of pickles
• a brown bird

Here's my story.

It's a beautiful day to sit and draw the scene in front of me with my blue crayon.  I gaze out my window at the gentle waves on the lake.  I wish I could sit here forever, but I must get up and fix my crazy kids their lunch.  As I'm grabbing a jar of pickles out of the fridge, I am startled by a loud wack. I drop the jar when I jump, covering the floor with pickles and glass.  The smell of dill quickly fills my house.  When I look out, I see a little brown bird laying next to a dead butterfly.  The bird shakes his head and flies away, but I'm sad because the butterfly never will.

Here's Caden's.  I might need to take his crayons away.

Woosh!  I threw my blue crayon at the little brown bird which landed in my jar of pickles.  It was attracted by my dead butterfly on the ground by my jar of pickles.  I picked up the crayon and poked the bird making sure it was dead.  It was.  The bird was twitching and there was a blue mark from were I hit it.  There was a blue mark on the butterfly too.  (at this point in his reading, he gives me a sly grin.)

Jaelyn's is along those same lines.  What am I doing wrong???

One day when I lived in the forest, I found a blue crayon.  I went home and got paper so I could draw something with it.  I drew a beautiful blue butterfly.  Then it was bedtime so I went to bed.  In the middle of the night, I heard some ruckus and decided to go check it out.  I saw my paper and it was plain white.  Then I went outside and my blue butterfly was flying.  I quickly dashed inside to get a jar.  It was filled with pickles I dumped them out and left.  Once I caught the butterfly I went back to sleep.  The next morning I woke up I grabbed my butterfly and went down stairs to where I dropped my pickles.  I murdered the butterfly and put it in a glass show box.  I went outside and saw a little brown bird.  I went to the garage and grabbed a butterfly net.  I caught the little brown bird and murdered it with my last pickle.  Than I put it in a little glass box.  I decided to become a person who collects things with wings and put them in glass cases.

Allie didn't put the full 10 minutes into hers and it shows..

The little brown bird brought me a dead butterfly.  It dropped it in a jar of pickled for some odd reason.  But then I got a piece of paper and a blue crayon to draw a picture of the sunset that day.

The Craziness that is our Life

So we got back from our first Florida trip mid-September.  It took us a week or so, but I finally felt like we were getting back into our routine.  The kids started our co-op and really enjoyed it.  I'd filled the fridge up with food and unpacked our suitcases.  Then, I decided to turn around and head back to Florida for a week and a half with the kids.  Craziness, I tell you.

My Grandpa and his wife, Doris, moved into assisted living while we were at Disney.  There house is reverse mortgaged and they had 60 days to turn the house back over.  I knew the house was packed, but I had no idea how packed it was.  There was a lot of stress on my parents in the first few weeks after the move.  They were over-whelmed by the situation and my dad's blood pressure was up.  I'm so thankful for homeschooling, because for once, I was able to say I'm coming and stay as long as I was needed.  My mother in law agreed to keep the kids and try to school them (poor Joanie...she had no clue what she was agreeing too :p).  We drove back down on the 28th, stopping over in Atlanta with Uncle Cliffy Wiffy :).

I was in no way prepared for the work that was ahead of us and I won't air my grandpa's dirty laundry.  Let's just say, they hadn't thrown anything away in 30 years.  Actually, I found junk mail from Doris' first husband from the 1960's.  That's 50 years.  It took 5 days of 3 of us working and a 6th day with us plus my brother and nephew, but we cleared the trash, sorted, and prepared for the estate people to come in for a sale.

We've been home a week now and I feel like we are finally getting back into the swing of things with school.  In addition to that, I've had a couple of projects and some cleaning out of my own to do.  I brought back an old dingy dresser that was buried in my Grandpa's garage.  I cleaned it up, sanded it down, and repainted it a pretty tuscan red (thank you mom).  It's so pretty.  I also ripped the pad on my ironing board one night and then ripped the whole pad off in frustration.  I ended up buying  plywood to attach to the top and covered it with batting and material.  I love my new huge ironing surface.  Our couch cushions collapsed years ago during a move.  I finally found a place here that sells foam big enough; so in addition to all of that, I also redid our couch cushion.  They are so much nicer.  I highly recommend it.  I spent $200 and I'm happy with my couch again rather than $2000 on new living room furniture.

The biggest thing I have in common with my Grandpa is his love of pictures, but what I realized as we dug through his box is most of the pictures didn't matter.  So many of his pictures were from his travels with his civic organizations.  I was shocked at the pile of those compared to family.  It's a lesson in what's important.  They also had cards...cards anyone had ever given them that unfortunately went straight in the trash.  I came home and pulled out my 5 under the bed boxes and 3 shoe boxes of pictures, cards, and keepsakes.  I still have some organizing to do, but if I couldn't tell you who was in the picture, it went in the trash.  If there were a lot of landscapes of one place, I kept one and threw the rest away.  I couldn't believe the doubles I had.  I filled 3 trash bags with stuff, and have my boxes down to 3 under the bed boxes and 1 shoebox.

Jaelyn helped me in our storage closet today.  I don't have piles and piles of stuff, but the anti-hoarder in me wants to keep cleaning out after experiencing their house.  Thankfully, I'm busy with school and projects for Christmas.  Hopefully the itch to clean will go away soon :).