Journal: 12-8-2008

Last night we saw the holoday train. It was lit wtih 100,000 lights. Santa was on the train. Santa was giving out free candy cains. I got a candy cain but Mitch did not so we are going to sher it. There were also giving out free miny candy cains We both got thoes. We shaired one glas of free hot coco. We did not stay for the hole show bekos we got to cold.

Journal: 12-1-2008

It is advent today. I got to open the first Lego Advent Calender. I got a LEGO ornament. We got a Christmas tree yesterday. We put the Christmas lights up last night. We put up white lights and bubble lights. I helped put up the white lights.

Journal: 11-24-2008

I got to go to Mommy's last music class. I went to 1 Tuesday class and all the Wednesday classes. Mommy used to have 4 tuesday classes but only 3 classes were chosen. Mommy also went to 30 hours of training. We had a partay on the last day. There are 10 weeks of class. I've been in music class for 5 years. I was 1 year going on 2. I like music class because Mommy was the teacher.

Journal: 11-17-2008

We went to the Sities for the weekend for a wedding. We stayd at a hotel. The hotel had an in dor pool it also had a hot tub. I srfed on daddies back he also gave me under water rides The wedding had a fhodeod [photo] booth. I got my own kids shompain. We went to mall of Amairica and ate at Rooby toosdays.

Journal: 11-10-2008

I would relly like the Valcan from Nerf for Chrismas. My 2nd to top is a Pokemon Diamond + Pearl trating cards. I would also like a creat you're own light saber kit. I would like Lego Star Wars Separatise Spider Droid $29.99. I also want a Star Wars Hailfier Droid + Spider Droid LEGO Set. The rest I'm not fussy. O and a Rebel Scout Speeder Star Wars lego Set $9.99.

Journal: 10-26-2008

I went to Marissa's house. Marssa has a cat named Prins Tom. They have 3 cats. Marissa and Audrey shair a room. There room is upstairs. I had a playdait with Marissa yesterday. I said [stayed] for dinner. I had chickin, frise, and cheasesticks. We wacht The Wizard of Oz. I got thear at 3:00 p.m. and staid till 7:00 p.m.

Journal: 10-20-2008

My birthday was two days ago. We went to the sitteas [Cities]. We went to LEGO land we ate at the Rainforest Cafe. I boght a lego Agents Set 2. I got a light up cup from Rainforest cafe. Mitch got me a clone wor tratting card pack it had a 3D card. My favorite part was getting my presents.

Journal: 10-14-2008

I whould like the like the new NERF Vulcan dart gun. Thare is a Lego Agents Snowmobeal. I also want a create your own light saver cit [kit] and spy sets.

Journal: 10-10-2008

We went to Oxbow Park. We also lerned about bears We did a leaf hunt. We saw some wearred [wierd] bugs. I found a jinet [giant] maple leef. bears donet go to the bathroom in winter. The bearres tern thair wast into musle. Tjhose are my top things the rest I am not fussy.

Friday Stories: New Year's Resolutions

One of my New Year's resolutions is to go sledding sledding twenty times this winter, or hopefully more. Another one of my New Year's resolutions is to build one or two snow forts out of the recycling bin. I would also like to learn how the twelve different birthstones are formed because then I would know how a diamond would form. I remember there is an opal, a diamond, a ruby, sapphire, and topaz. I would also like to try to get up to $275 yet this year. I don't really know what to buy with it but I am thinking about maybe buying gold $800 for an ounce in gold. I also would to learn about how carrier pigeons could carry a message. I also had a goal of about two or three science experiments a week. There is one that I would like to do and I can grow crystals with that one.

Friday Story: Our Fun Co-op

We had a co-op play yesterday. It was about Little House on the Prairie. I got all my lines memorized a week before the play. Here is two parts of the narrator:



Soon Mary and Laura liked going to school. They even attended their first party given by Nellie Oleson. In return, they had their own country party. Pa's wheat field was so very good. It would bring in so much money. But grasshoppers came in a glittering cloud and destroyed the crop. Pa had to go away to the East to find work there but he was soon home and it was Christmas Eve.



There were also haystacks which Mary and Laura were not supposed to play on, but they did. The Ingalls even celebrated Christmas in the dugout and the weather was very strange. It was called 'grasshopper weather.' When the weather grew warmer in the spring, Mary and Laura were about to begin a new adventure, on they were not sure they wanted to participate in.



And here is my third and last part, the teacher:



I see we have some new students today.



They made a mistake. They thought the teacher would be a girl but it was me and I'm not a girl. I'm a boy. So they changed it to Yes, Mister, instead of Yes, Ma'am.



(Yes, Mister. I'm Mary Ingalls and this is my sister Laura. Those are Annika's lines.)



That's just fine. I'll put your names into my book. Now let's hear you read.



(Mary reads a small passage from a McGuffey Reader. Laura just shakes her head. She doesn't know how to read. The teacher dismisses the class for recess.)



That's all my lines.



We made a fiddle out of bungee rope, a pencil, and a 96 ounce can. You poke a hole in the can, then put the bungee rope through, tie a knot, and at the part of the can where you would open it, open it up, rinse it out good, and then take duct tape and put it around the open edge so it won't scratch your floor. Then take the other end of the bungee rope and tie it to a pencil. Once that is done, hold the pencil with one hand and then put one foot on the can and then pull tight on the bungee rope, while holding on to the pencil, but not too tight, and then strum it. That is how you make a fiddle. You have to play it just right to make it sound like an oboe instead of a fiddle.



We went to the apple orchard field trip for Mommy's birthday. We picked about twenty pounds of apples. I'm surprised the paper bag didnt' rip! It was our second time touring Apple Ridge Orchard. They have their own cider press. They also have their own freezer. It smells so good in there! I wish our house could smell that good! We got to have a small wagon ride up a hill to the apple farm. They have their own assembly line. It washes the apples, sizes them, and puts them into a small, medium, or big size.



We made our own inventions in hands-on history. That's Mommy's class. I made a AT-TE from Star Wars: The Clone Wars.



We also had a Halloween party. In Mommy's classroom, they had a candle-making class out of wax beads a pipe-cleaner class where you could make a pumpkin or a black cat. There was also in Mommy's classroom a make-your-own-button craft. I was in that class and I made a button and I stamped on a silver spider. (And if you've ever heard of the book, The Silver Spider, Daddy wanted to read it to me, and Mommy said no, and I don't think I was ready for it, either.) In Sandy's and Valerie's room, they had a braiding class and you made a ghost out of some yarn and kleenexes and marker to make a face. Step one: take one kleenex, ball it up. Step two: unfold the kleenex, and then put it over balled-up kleenex. Twist it just a tad, maybe, but not too much so the kleenex rips. Take about a three inch piece of yarn, tie it around, then cut off the extra. Step three: take a marker and draw the face. I really liked the Halloween party.

Friday Stories: I Like Winter

I like winter. I like winter because I get to try out my new snowboard this year. I also can't wait because we'll get to build a snow fort and have snowball fights. I would like to see if we could make an igloo this year with a hollow inside. I hope we get a snowstorm with three feet of snow. That would be a blast! I also like winter because I get to paint the snow with bottles of water and food coloring. I would like to try to make an underground tunnel under the snow this year. I have never done that before but it sounds fun!



I wonder if we will have a white Christmas. It feels a lot more like Christmas when there is snow out.



Sometimes we get sick in the winter but I usually only get a small cold. I like having snowball fights a lot in the winter. Dad usually is at work when we would have snowball fights.



I like sledding down on our little circle sled down to the pond and this year I'm gonna try out my snowboard going down to the pond. Mitchell said, "That's foolish." He said, "If you go too far and too fast on the ice you will break through." But I don't think that would happen unless the ice is only a millimeter or an inch thick or of course if you are riding a snowboard that's on fire, that will melt through the ice. But there are no snowboards that I know of that will start on fire.



Sometimes we go over to Ella's and sled down their hill. This year I would like to go and bring my snowboard. That will be a lot of fun. It has flames on the front and the rest is black, and it has traction spikes and a handle to hold onto. The handle is grey.

Journal: 9-29-2008

We went to hands on history. We got to try hard tac. Hard tac is a kind of a cfrakker. But it's about an inch thick. It's also salty. We also got to start a fire with a real blacksmith.

Journal: 9-22-2008

We went to an appel orchrd. We pict 30 to 40 appels. It was about a 30 minit drive. We got three jugs of appel sider. One small and two big. We also got a carmled appel with emanems [M and M's].

Journal: 9-15-2008

We went to New Ulm. Mitch had his party at Happy Joe's. Mitch got over 100 tickets. We got 1214 tickets with the help of Brine, Ashly, and Dany. I got about 100 tickets to. We each got 607 tickets.

Journal: 9-12-2008

Mommy started a new cowop [co-op]. Over 20 kids came. We had musik, literature, and hans on history. Wear learning about litle house in the big woods. It gos [goes] from 1 to 4.

Journal: 9-5-2008

I did water balloons this summer. I filled up the water balloons. I soaked Mitch with the water balloons. I made about 30 water balloons. About 12 balloons popped. It toock me about an our to blow the water balloons up.

Journal: 5-19-2008

We whent to New Ulm. I found a dime at a park. We got to see the New Ulm Battery. The Battery had canon's. There were two canon's. The canins fired gun powder.

Journal: 5-12-2008

We whent to Seed Savers. We bot popcorn seeds. We spent $233.25. It was 67 miles from our house. It was an hour and a half drive. I'm going to sell some of the corn.

Journal: 5-6-2008

We went to a feald trip at the radio station. They had cool sounds. It was almost an our. We got ticits for the radio show. We got to be on the radio. They had a lot of trophys.

My Great Summer

Mitch and me had a small water fight with just the two of us. It wasn't much of a water fight because there were only two people. I soaked Mitch! He didn't want to play for very long, but then Dad came and I'm pretty sure he took Mitchell's squirt gun and squirted me.



I also played at our park about twenty times. We visited other parks, too. We had a playdate at IBM Park about a week ago. We also played at Kutzky Park and I found a Hot Wheels car. We also went to Roy Sutherland Park about five times. And we went to the one right across the street from it about five times, too.



I also found about five dollars during the summer. I used to find money at the old Target but now we don't go there much and the new Target I barely ever find money at. Last year I found four fives in the Whistle Binkie's parking lot. I counted my money up about a year ago and it equaled $27.37 that I've found in stores, but now I've found more money so I need to count it up again.



I passed level two at Stewartville pool. We went there after swimming lessons twice. I went down the yellow waterslide, and boy, was that fun! I went off the diving board in swimming lessons and it's pretty fun. I did in ten feet deep water. I also did a mini water slide in the ten feet deep part.



We flew our kite in the summer about three or five times. It's a light up one, and I haven't tried it in the dark yet and I would like to fly it in the dark yet this year.



We played outside every day. I rode my bike three or four times a week. I watered the plants every day, too. I also took Minnie for a walk every day.



I also played baseball. I was on Coach Darrin's team again because I like to be on his team and we got to be the Blue Lightning Bolts. I only missed one game. Games were on Tuesday nights and practices were on Sunday nights. One of my favorite positions is probably shortstop or first base because then I get to try to get the guy out at first or throw to third or second. We have a party each end of the baseball season. This year we had hot dogs just like last year. I think I only struck out once this year in the whole baseball season. Once I got either the first score for the team or the last score and then the game was over if it would have been the last score.

Friday Stories: Toys in a Treehouse

One morning I woke up and looked out the window. Our maple tree by the sandbox had a treehouse in it! I went outside and climbed up the rope ladder and went inside the treehouse. It was filled with toys. I woke Mitch up but he didn't want to come. So I went back out, brought one of the coolest toys to show him, and then he followed me up into the treehouse. Mitchell found a pile of Ninendo DS games, Game Boy games, Play Station games, and it measured one cubic foot.

In another corner I found a pile of Legos: the hundred and three dollar Lego set. I couldn't wait to show Mom and Dad. I sold some of the toys for money and bought a water cooler for water up there. I had friends over and I let them play in the treehouse.

The treehouse is about seventy square feet. It had four windows, one on each side. The treehouse ceiling is about six feet tall. There was a rope ladder that could be rolled up. There was a little attic with a trap door accessible from the top or inside. Sometimes I leave it open so the birds can make nests in and I can get their eggshells for the nature tray.

Friday Stories: I Wonder

I wonder how they make circuit boards. I wonder how they make resistors, too. I think what they're made for is to absorb energy so it doesn't get overloaded with power and break.


I like taking things apart. I unscrewed a CD player and it had a laser eye in it. I wonder how a laser eye reads the things on the CD.


I wonder how those sticks of circuit boards hold memory on a computer. I wonder if those black chips have anything to do about storing the memory. I wonder if they store the memory in them.


I've also unscrewed an old phone. There are two bells inside and I wonder how when there's a call coming, it knows when to ring and when it knows to stop ringing. I wonder how they make the phones now so they have an answering machine and you can hear the message and save it.


I wonder how the machines solder that and put the pieces on circuit boards and make them. I would like to take a tour of that factory.


I wonder how they make memory cards store so many pictures. I have a camera. The most pictures I've taken on a memory card is five hundred; almost six hundred, I think.


I wonder how some computers know the exact time, date, and how on Playstation, you hit a button on the controller and it sends it to the game box, into the TV, projects in on the screen, and it does the move. I wonder how all that happens so fast.


I would like to unscrew an answering machine next. If you read this, if you have any broken things, you can give them to us, if they have a circuit board in 'cause I like seeing inside them.

Journal: 4-28-2008

We whent to the Waste to Energy facility. There was a gint [giant] claw. I liked the claw. It was at least 80 feet tall with jonk [junk]. They bern 175 tons [of garbage] a day. they need a third fernnes [furnace].

Journal: 4-21-2008

We built a raised garden. I helped with it. I get my own garden. We are going to Seed Savers. They have unique seeds. I get to pick my own seeds.

Journal: 4-14-2008

Mitch got a new car seat yesterday. It cost $160. We bot it at Toys 'R Us. Mitch likes it. It gos [goes] up to 100 pounds. He wonet nead a new one agen.

Journal: 4-7-2008

We had an egg hunt. There were 2000 eggs. I flew a Buzz Lightyear kite at the egg hunt. I found about fifty eggs. I found a gold egg. You get a prise if you fined a gold egg. I like the rings for a prise.

Journal: 3-24-2008 Dyeing Eggs

We dyed deggs. I did glitter eggs. I made swirl eggs. We each got 12 eggs. Thare are 48 eggs in all. We used large eggs. We did it at night.

Journal: 3-17-2008

We have a squrle visitting the dek. He likes Nutter Butters the best so far. It is intteretaning to wach him. We give him plates of food. Thare are two squrles. The crose [crows] some times take the cookies.

Story Starter: Candy Galore

Out of breath, Max dashed inside. He wanted to play outside longer, but Mom had called him three times already, and he didn't want TV privileges taken away. When he entered the kitchen, he couldn't believe his eyes. The countertops were covered entirely with ... candy.

I didn't know what to say. "Where did you get all of that candy?"

"Mitchell won a prize on the radio," Mom said. "He chose candy."

There was all kinds of candy. There were Jolly Ranchers, cherry sours, Fruit-By-the-Foot. All the candy you could imagine.

We decided to sell some of it for money. One pound cost five dollars. We sold ten pounds of candy in one day. We got fifty dollars.

Each day we sold about ten pounds. The weekends we sold a little more than ten pounds 'cause more people were home. We decided to save it up until we had enough for the Wii.

The only problem was the Target was out of Wiis, and that was the only store that we knew that sold them. They said they'd be getting an order of Wiis in one week.

In one week, Mitch and me bought the Wii. We bought Mario Party for Wii with it. And we also bought Mario and Sonic Olympic Race for the Wii, too. We had a blast playing them.

We decided to start selling some of the candy to the stores. We charged twenty dollars for four pounds. We didn't know what to do with all that candy. After we sold so many pounds, we still had heaps of candy left, so we decided to give some of it away. We gave the candy to poor people and then they sold it to other people and got some money.