Epiphany on the Beach

It is Epiphany. Imogen, Charlotte, Gemma-Rose and I are all sitting in Mum and Dad's room talking.

"We have two options on what we could do today," Mum says. "We could stay home and have cake or we could go to the beach?"

What is Mum thinking? Of course we want to go to the beach. We grab our swimmers, towels, something to do in the car and water bottles.

Soon we are in the car. I settle down for the long drive. I have a favourite book on the go and I am listening to the Frozen soundtrack on my MP3 player. It doesn't seem to take very long before we arrive.

Immy

We head over to the changing rooms. We all change as fast as we can, put on our sunscreen and then meet Dad outside.

He leads us over to the beach and to a good spot on the sand.

"Can we go play in the water?" Gemma-Rose asks.

Me

"Come on," Imogen agrees and we run into the waves. The water isn't half as cold as we thought it would be and soon we are jumping waves. We call ourselves the Ninja Kipper Fish.

Gemma-Rose and Charlotte keep getting carried back to shore, but Imogen and I soon pick up how to jump a wave and then dig our heels into the sand.

After a little while we all decide to go make a sand castle. It is a tradition to make a sand castle every time we go to the beach.

"What should this one be like?" Charlotte asks.

"How about we give it two towers?" Imogen suggests.

"We could give it a tunnel all the way through," Charlotte adds.

"Come on then."

Soon we are digging and piling sand up. It is looking really impressive. I smile as I look at our handiwork.

"Lets call it the Two Towers," Imogen says. I giggle.

Gemma-Rose and Two Towers

"What should we do now?" Gemma-Rose asks.

"Well I have seen all these amazing pictures of sand mermaids. Does anyone want to try making one?" Imogen asks.

We all do. We have never made a sand mermaid before.

Charlotte and Imogen start by drawing out the shape and then we begin on the building.

The mermaid

"Try to stay in the lines," Charlotte calls.

It is a lot of fun. I get given the head to do. I build it a bit out of shape and Charlotte has to fix it for me. She and Imogen are good at doing things like this.

Mum comes over to have a look. She is soon off for her camera. She takes photos of everyone and, when we are finished, the mermaid itself. Dad comes over too. He takes the camera and takes a lot more photos. It is the most amazing thing we have ever done!

"Time to go and get some dinner," Mum says.

We go to the change room and have showers and get back into our clothes. We are all hungry and so we hurry. Dad is going to buy fish and chips.

Once he has bought them, we find a park and sit down to eat our dinner. Seagulls crowd around in hope of something to eat, but they are out of luck. We are too hungry to waste anything on birds.

When we have finished eating, we climb back in the car and go home to bed. It was a great day! I really enjoyed myself.

What did you do on the Feast of the Epiphany?

Visiting London and Making Postcards

Today we went to London. We saw the London Eye, Big Ben and learnt heaps. It was so much fun. The best thing about it was we didn't even have to leave our family room. It was all on Mum's computer.

Mum has found all these videos about different countries and cities on YouTube. We go on a different trip each week. Gemma-Rose and I really enjoy it.

When we came back from our adventuring on YouTube today, Mum had a brilliant idea. Why don't we make our own post cards about London?

I grabbed my computer and raced to Morguefile to find some pictures to do with London. I found plenty of photos of Big Ben, heaps of pictures of the London Eye and some of the Beefeaters.

Once I had all the pictures I wanted, I went to Picmonkey and started to turn them into postcards. I couldn't believe how good they looked.

Gemma-Rose and I spent ages playing with photos, turning them into postcards and finding good words to go onto them.

After a while we had to stop for lunch. I didn't really want to stop, it was so exciting. I will have to make some more later.

I  am going to make postcards to go with every country we learn about. I sure I can find good photos for countries like Vietnam or New Zealand.

Mum is all buzzing with new ideas. I can't wait to try out some of her other ideas like making movie posters.

Do you like my postcards? Which is your favourite? Mine is the one of the London Eye.

Squeebles Maths

Gemma-Rose with a toy she made

Gemma-Rose used to dislike maths. She used to be really reluctant to do any. Funny enough I used to be like that too until Mum found this wonderful maths book full of fun ways to do multiplication. I now love maths.

Mum decided to find a fun way to teach Gemma-Rose her multiplications tables too. She is a bit young for my favourite maths books so Mum went looking on the internet and found this game called Squeebles and she downloaded an app for it onto her tablet! Gemma-Rose loves it.  You can't get her off it.

I think Gemma-Rose is going to be a maths fan like me. I adore maths. I love finding new ways to do big equations. Gemma-Rose isn't quite up to doing big maths problems yet, but at the rate she is going she will better than me soon.

After a bit of hunting, Mum found a few other Squeebles games. Gemma-Rose was delighted. She plays her maths games just for fun now.

Gemma-Rose lets all of us have a go at her games. Seeing if we can break her high scores, which we hardly ever do, and having fun with her. 

It is funny how one fun maths game can make you adore maths. I can hardly believe she used to be so reluctant to have a bit of fun playing with numbers.

Soon Gemma-Rose and I will be racing each other to work out maths problems. I wonder if I will be able to beat her or if she will be too good for me.

Sewing Fun

We own a book called Make a Monster. It has a lot of really cute patterns for toys to sew out of fleece.

The other day Mum pulled the book out and told me that she would help me sew a toy from it. I was very excited. 

I picked up the book and flicked through the pages until I found the toy I wanted: a cute little toy with funny ears.

My first toy

"Do you want to go down to the shops for some fabric?" Mum asked me.

"Oh yes please," I answered and I ran for my shoes. 

Gemma-Rose had also decided she wanted to make a toy and so together, Mum,Gemma-Rose and I set out to the shops for fabric.

Me and my first toy

It turned out to be just the right day for sewing as the fabric shop was having a sale. We rushed over to the fleece section of the shop to choose the fabrics we needed.

"I want green and pink for my dinosaur," Gemma-Rose said. Mum hunted out a nice lime green coloured fabric and a bright pink one.

Gemma-Rose's first toy

"What colours would you like?" Mum asked me. I looked at all the wonderful colours. It was so hard to choose.

"Could I have that dark purple and bright orange please?" I asked. Mum agreed and we walked off to the counter with our arms full of fleece.

Gemma-Rose and her first toy

Straight after lunch we settled down to sew. Mum helped us cut out our pieces and then left us to it. 

I spent a happy afternoon sewing my toy together. It was a really easy one and so it was done before dinner. The toy looks really cute.

My second toy

Gemma-Rose's toy was a little harder and it took her two days to finish hers, but it looked wonderful when it was finished. She is a really good seamstress. I wish I could have sewn like her when I was her age.

Me and my second toy

After our success at our toys we wanted to make more. Mum was all willing to help. She cut us out some more pieces and we started to sew.

While we sewed Mum read to us. Sewing is a wonderful thing to do while Mum is reading because it doesn't take your mind off the story.

Gemma-Rose and her second toy

It took me a little longer to finish my toy this time because it was a harder one. Gemma-Rose ended up finishing her toy before me. But I don't care. I had a lot of fun sewing my toy. I can't wait to sew some more. 

Trampoline

Gemma-Rose on our trampoline

When I was little, Mum and Dad bought us a trampoline. I jumped and jumped on it. 

After a few years, the trampoline started to fall to pieces. Last year it got to a stage where it was too unsafe to jump on. I was very sad.

Mum knew Gemma-Rose and I were upset about not being able to jump on the trampoline and so she made up a sneaky plan.

On Christmas day when we were giving out our last presents, Mum gave me and Gemma-Rose a surprise. We had to close our eyes as Mum and Callum brought something into the room. It made a lot of noise and I wondered what it was.

When we opened our eyes, there in front of us was a new trampoline! Of course it wasn't assembled. A put-together trampoline wouldn't have fitted through the door and into the living room. It was in a box.

I bounced up and down (on the floor, not the trampoline). It was too good to believe. A new trampoline. Gemma-Rose was just as excited.

a very bad photo of Gemma-Rose on our trampoline

The very next day Dad and Callum put the trampoline together and Gemma-Rose and I got to bounce on it.

Gemma-Rose and I love jumping on our trampoline. It is one of our favourite things to do outside.

Imogen

Imogen is wonderful! She cooks dinners most nights. She is a wonderful cook. She never complains that someone else should have a go at cooking the dinner.

Imogen is always watching movies with Gemma-Rose and me, even when she wants to do something else, like write. She will leave what she is doing and sit down with us.

Even though Imogen is doing uni work, she still finds time to read Shakespeare plays with us, go running down the bush tracks and basically have fun.

Every time I need help with something or other, I can always go to Imogen for help. She is always willing to help me work out a maths question or sort out a problem in my knitting.

She is always playing board games with me and Gemma-Rose. She is a very fun person to play with, but so hard to beat. I don't think even Dad can beat her.

For the past few years Imogen has been teaching me to play the piano. She is always very patient and kind. Even now that I have a professional teacher she still helps me out between my lessons. I don't know another person who would do that.

Imogen is the best second oldest sister I can think of. I am glad I chose her as my confirmation sponsor!

Beach

I love the beach. It is so much fun to play in the sand and splash in the water. Do you like the beach?

One of my favourite things to do at the beach is to make a sand castle. I like piling sand up and then digging around the castle to make a moat. Imogen makes the best sand castles ever. Someday I am going to be as good as she is at it though.

We don't get to go to the beach very often. We live a long way away, but that just makes going to the beach more special. Can you imagine going to the beach everyday? It would not be very special after a bit.

Each time we go to the beach we come home again with huge buckets of shells. They are always so pretty. I love shells. Shell hunting is a lot of fun. Shells also look good on sand castles.

I love having picnics on the beach. Ham rolls with potato salad seasoned with sand, yum. Well not the sand bit, but it adds a bit of extra flavour. What do you think?

I like to take photos at the beach, but I don't get very many. I am still trying to get a good one though. Can you take good photos at the beach?

All in all the beach is a very fun place, but I think that I would not like to go everyday, it would not be so special and fun.

Running and Breakfast

The car stopped. We all hopped out. All eight of us. We were all going for a run around the lake. It was only about seven in the morning. The perfect time for a run.

We all put our bottles down on the table and took off our jackets. We would not need them. Then we all took to the path.

We ran off, around the ladies running up and down and doing stretches.

I was happy. Normally it is just Imogen, Mum, Charlotte, Gemma-Rose, me and sometimes Dad in the holidays, running around the field at the end of our road. But not today. Mum had arranged for us to have a big breakfast down at the lake after a run.

Callum said he would come too and Duncan decided to come for a walk, but soon Gemma-Rose got him running.

One, two three... the laps were just whizzing by, I was on a roll. I did not want to ever stop, but by ten laps I was getting a bit tired. I decided it was time to finish. Ten laps is a long way, about 5.25 kms.

Everyone else had the same idea and soon we were all tucking into coco pops, crumpets and yoghurt. It was the best breakfast ever and I felt like I had earnt it after all that running.

Everyone was laughing and talking. I smiled. I was so happy I could run another ten laps. Maybe not. Anyhow I had a crumpet to finish.

Do you like running? I think that having an early run is a wonderful way to start a day.

More Maths Fun

Mum has found us a brand new site for Maths. It is called Kid's Math Games Online. On it you can watch videos, play games, take quizzes and even get pictures.

We soon found that the people who made that site made two others. They are the same except with different subjects. One is science and the other is English.

I liked the maths one best, though I am sure Charlotte would love the science one better. She loves chemistry, while I like maths.

Mum found some print off Sudoku puzzles and I spent all morning trying to work them out. I love Sudoku.

I made up my mind to see what else was on the site, so off I went to my computer. I lifted the lid and started to play online chess against the computer. I also looked at pictures and some other games for things like addition and money.

I had so much fun looking at Kid's Math Games Online. I love maths. Do you?

My Sketchbook

I was looking for something to write about on my blog and then Mum suggested I post up some of the pictures I have drawn and here they are:

                                                                     Manga Boy:

He is a boy that came from a book I once read. It was called The Penderwicks. In the book he lived with his mother and cook. He had no real friends until the Penderwick girls came and livened things up for him.

                                                                   Dick the sports boy:

Dick loves sport and has a weekly game of it with some friends. He is not from a book like my other boy instead he comes right out of my head and I am very proud of him.

                                                                  Queen Marie:
Queen Marie may be old but you do not see her in an old ladies' home instead you see her going off to balls and saving the day. She went to war once when King Ernie was too sick to go. She is not afraid of doing things like that.

King Ernie:

He is a bit forgetful but he is really nice. He once eat his fish uncooked and when his men told him he turned so red that if he had been in red he would look like a tomato.

Queen Emily:

She is the sister to Queen Marie though she does not look it and she rules the only kingdom that King Ernie likes. She has ten children and loves every one very much. She is loved very much in her kingdom and even though she is not loved as much as King Ernie and Queen Marie.

                                              
                                                                           Sam:
He loves nothing better than to get Albert in trouble and stay out of it himself. He is very clever though he will not admit it. At the school for young owls he beat everyone in the class and his parents are very proud of him.

Albert:

He is very naughty at school but only because he does not want to be like Sam. He lives in a hole in a tree and could fly at a very young age. He wants to be a doctor when he grows up and I think he will be for when he sets his heart on something it happens.                                       

                                                       

Christmas Cards for Everyone

There are so many things to do and so little time before Christmas. Don't you think the same?
We are making our own cards for Christmas this year. I think that home made cards are so much prettier than shop bought ones.

First we got out lots of pens, pencils and paper. We drew some pictures and wrote Merry Christmas on some of them. Then we coloured them and inked them. The cards were beautiful but Mum had another brilliant idea. Her idea was that we should make little tags to go on the Christmas tree to go with them.
Mum found some nice holy pictures in a book and scanned them. Imogen was in charge of our job. Our job was to cut out pieces of card and stick them to the pictures.

Charlotte went on the computer and printed off some little pieces of paper saying 'Merry Christmas from Sue, Andy, Duncan, Callum, Imogen, Charlotte, Sophie, Gemma-Rose'. It was all in different fonts.
We are almost finished with the cards and tags.

Making things for Christmas is a lot of fun.

My Blog Banner

Yesterday I thought that my blog would look nice with a blog banner.

I got to work finding pictures to go on it. I soon had some nice photos.then I went to a place on the internet called Picnik. There I found a nice colour for the banner and found some pictures of butterflies and put them on it too. Soon my banner was done. I got Mum to help put it on my blog because she has one on her blog Sue Elvis Writes.

When it was on I thought it was a very good banner but the background blog colour was not right so I went and got a plain purple background. It looked great.

I had a great time making my banner and I hope you like looking at it.

From now on I am going write more blog posts and I will not bother about how many people look at my blog. Just like my Mum I am blogging for fun not followers.

I hope you enjoy reading.

Meet the Limes

I am writing a story about a homeschooling family called 'The Limes." They have four children: Liz, Kate, John, and Tom. I drew some pictures of them. I like my picture of Kate best.

This is Mr Lime. He is a primary school teacher and is very funny. He loves to spend time with his family. He likes to play board games and cricket. He also likes to watch cricket. His favourite food is chocolate.

This is Mrs Lime. She is a very pretty lady. She's very kind too. She has a lot of work to do looking after the house and children. She likes to knit cardigans for the children and watch saints movies. Her favourite food is Pavlova.

This is Tom. He is ten. He likes to play indoor soccer with his friends. He's the best in team.He also likes to read adventure stories. He wants to go camping someday. His favourite food is oranges.

This is Kate. She eight and is very thin, tall and pretty, just like her mum. She loves to read saint books,  Enid Blyton stories and princess stories. She also likes to write stories and cook cakes and dinners. Her favourite food is chocolate cake.

 This is Liz. She is six. She loves to play with her dolls Amy, Sunny, Jonathon and Peach. She also likes to watch movies. Her favourite movies are: Inspector Gadget, Barbie, especially A Fairy Secret, and Herbie. Her favourite food is yogurt. Her favourite flavour is strawberry.

This is John. He is three. he likes to get messy by playing with mud and playdough. He likes to make playdough farms. He also love to have his dad read him bedtime stories. And most of all he likes to be loved. His favourite food is mandarins.

Scooters Round the Lake

My sisters and I are the Speed Angel Sisters. The Speed Angel Sisters ride their scooters all together. We ride single file, having fun together.

Yesterday the Speed Angel Sisters went to the park with their scooters. It was the first time we had all ridden our scooters together. We were extremely excited.

When we had put up our scooter we ran to the path and scootered off. Gemma-Rose was in the lead. Charlotte was at the back. We rode round the lake. I was happy because we were all together on our scooters.

We had to keep on jumping off the scooters when people walked by. Then, once we were past them, we jumped on and zoomed off again.

In the middle we stopped for some afternoon tea and a drink. I didn't expect afternoon tea. It was a big surprise when Imogen pulled the food out of her bag. After we had eaten we were ready to go again.

When I was too tired to scooter any more, Gemma-Rose and I went to play on the play equipment. It was crowed with mothers and children come to play in the park in the holidays. We still managed to have fun.

Then Imogen and Charlotte came on their scooters to get us. They had continued going round the lake. We jumped off the play equipment and ran to the picnic table where Dad was waiting for us.

I really liked going to the park with my sisters. I like riding scooters with them. Go the Speed Angel Sisters!