Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Pretending I am Jane Long

January 5, 1882


  It has been Over six months since my husband, James Long left the headquarters here at Point Bolivar.  I just gave birth to a baby girl about a month ago.  She is the only white individual that has ever been born in Texas.  Many people have been calling me the mother of Texas because of this.  Five months ago the other people awaiting the return of my husband left because he did not return in a month's time as he had said he would.  They invited me to come along, but I refused to go.  I still have hope.  My children, along with my maid, Kian and I are barely surviving through this brutal winter.  All of the food that we had stored is now gone.  Kian and I have been carving ducks and fish out of the ice at the bay to eat.  Every day, to scare away the Indians, I fire the cannon.  I want them to think that this is a well mannered fort, so I hang my red coat from the flagpole.  I will not leave the fort until James returns.  This is where he left me and this is where I will be whenever he returns.

Monday, December 15, 2014

A song for Paw Paw

Paw Paw was having his fiftieth birthday party on a weekend in January about twenty years ago.  An announcement was made that my mother would be playing "Happy Birthday" on the saxophone. Everyone attending the party turned and stared at the fourteen year old.  She had been practicing for weeks to play on Paw Paw's birthday.  Despite this, butterflies filled her stomach and her hands started trembling.  Taking a seat between the kitchen and living room, she nervously began to play. Long, exaggerated notes emerged from the instrument carrying the Happy Birthday tune.  Then, all of a sudden there was a loud squeak that made everyone shriek.  She continued playing.  After what seemed like forever to her, the song ended.  Everyone clapped and cheered as though it was the best song they had ever heard.  The slightly embarrassed girl felt a load of relief come over herself.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Evidence

Although he claims he didn't do it, there is evidence that Jack got into the Nutella today:

1. There were small, brown footprints on the floor in the kitchen
2. Chocolate was smeared all over Rudi's back
3. Jack was COVERED in Nutella
4. The Nutella jar was open and in Jack's reach
5. There was Nutella on the wall at about the same height as Jack's waist
6. Jack's lips and teeth were brown
7. There was a spoon covered in Nutella in the silverware drawer
8. Jack has done this before



I'd say he did it(:

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Babysitting "Fun"

Babysitting is not an easy job.  Being the oldest though, it's something that I do pretty often.  I have a few experiences with Jack that need to be shared:

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Jack was watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse downstairs in the kitchen

Me: "Jack, let's go upstairs so I can do my schoolwork."
Jack: "Hawah dowt (Halle don't.)"
Me: "Jack come on!"
Jack with his sweet puppy dog face, "HAAAWAH DOWWWT!!!'

He won.
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Little kids constantly have to be entertained.  I was letting Jack play a game on my phone while I was watching him one day.  When he was done I looked to see what damage he'd done... He'd deleted three apps and pinned one thing on Pinterest!
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One day Jack was going downstairs to get his precious bear from the kitchen (that's what he told me anyway.)  It was taking him a while, so I decided to go check on him. When I got downstairs I smelled lemon in the air, and couldn't find Jack.  I called him several times, but there was no answer.  I found him in the closet under the stairs, armed with a Sharpie that he was using to draw all over his belly.  I removed the Sharpie from his possession and sent him to the corner.  I searched for the source of the lemon scent and found a can of furniture polish on the couch.  The couch and everything surrounding it was covered in a sticky, lemon scented liquid.
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The shoes, the marker, the mess, the thumb, the bear
Gotta love Jack(:

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Noah

Noah, a godly man, overcame a great obstacle during his lifetime.  God told Noah there was going to be an expansive flood brought to wipe almost every living thing from the face of the Earth.  Trusting and obeying God, Noah built a colossal ark for his family and two of every creature.  Tired, but continuously faithful, Noah and his family waited for the storm to stop.  Successfully, they survived the storm and God made a promise to never wipe out the Earth with a flood again.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

The brown pelican

  What kind of bird scoops its dinner up and out of the water?  This exceptional creature is the brown pelican.  Unlike other pelicans, the brown pelican dives head first from sixty-five feet above water down into the ocean to catch fish.  Other species of pelicans fly close to the surface of the water to find their prey.  Brown pelicans prey mainly on small fish that form schools near the surface of the water.  They will sometimes scavenge dead animals and eat invertebrates such as prawn and shrimp.  Populating on the coasts between North and South America, the brown pelican enjoys living on warm beaches with plenty of fish.  These birds have dark brown feathers and an oversized orange or yellow beak.  The brown pelican is a sizable bird.  From the tip of their beak to the end of their tail both male and female brown pelicans measure about four feet long.  In addition, their wingspan is about six feet wide.  Fascinating humans with their many remarkable traits, the brown pelican is yet another reason to head to the beach!

A brown pelican in flight

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Sundae For Dessert

The aroma of chocolate fills the room as sweet sauce gets poured onto a scoop of strawberry ice-cream.   A cherry tops the delicious dessert.  The cold cream slowly turns into liquid inside of my mouth.  My spoon clings against the glass as I scrape the sides of the container, anxious for another bite.  The fruity taste of strawberries perfectly complements the chocolate syrup.  The bright red cherry enters my mouth and makes my taste buds dance.  Just one, two, three bites more and...
                                                         BRAIN FREEZE

The Coahuitecan Indians (essay)

  The Coahuiltecan Indians lived a difficult life.  They lived in southern Texas near Mexico.  The region where they lived was deserted and had very few resources.  Their diet consisted mainly of snakes, lizards, armadillos, prickly pear cactus, and javelinas.
  The Coahuiltecans were nomads, meaning they traveled from place to place to find food and natural resources.  They had very few tools and spent most of their time only surviving instead of spending time making pots, tools, and any other items that you may find the other Indian tribes making.  Coahuiltecans traveled in bands.  Bands were groups of people that lived together.  There were hundreds of bands and each one had about 150 people.
  Because their region did not have many resources, initially no one wanted their land.  This caused them to be weak warriors.  When other tribes eventually started to become interested in owning their land, the Coahuiltecans lost many battles. As a result, the Coahuiltecan tribe disappeared.  Today there are no known members of this Native American tribe remaining.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

CCCC (Carolina Creek Christian Camp)

Christian: Carolina Creek Christian Camp was all about learning about God's word and getting closer to him. After every activity we would get together with the girls in our cabin and talk about how the activity was related to our walk with Christ (for example: almost all of the activities involved belaying and we had to trust the belayer to not drop us, so we would compare that to our walk with Christ by saying that we can trust God to keep us safe just as we can trust the belayer to keep us safe)



Crazy fun: There were a TON of activities including a 1,000 foot zip line, a giant swing, and the blob (I will explain that later). They also had kayaking, tubing, and banana boating. There were many more activities. Not only did they have those activities, but they also had two theme nights. The first theme night was nerd themed; they had games set up in the cafeteria room that were supposed to be the games you play on your phone such as fruit ninja or temple run. For the fruit ninja game they had chopped up bananas and apples that the "ninja" would throw at you to catch with your mouth. You would come to nerd night with your nerdiest clothing such as coke bottle glasses and bow ties. The second theme night was Duck Dynasty themed. We watched Duck Dynasty and played idiotic games such as toilet toss (you tried to throw a roll of toilet paper through a hanging toilet seat) and giant bowling (bowling with giant balls and pins) plus we also had a rubber duck hunt. Fun fun fun.



Caring: If you were to do something kind to another camper or if you were to do something godly you would be rewarded with points. These points would be added to your team's (cabin's) points and at afternoon chapel they would announce the team that had the most points for that day. At the end of the week they announced who the camp champs were. Those were the people in the team that had the most points overall for that week.



Cheer: There were cheers that we had for words, numbers, leaders etc. Here are a few:

For any number In this case the number is ten): TEN! one two three four five six seven eight nine ten. oosh ah ah ah ah boogitie boogitie boogitie ah (clap) a ah (clap) a ah (clap) a ah (clap clap) 

For the skit that they would do at afternoon chapel: Ski-it (clap clap clap) (we would repeat this getting louder each time until the people got on stage)

If someone said okay: Okay. Okay. okay okay okay. ooooookaaaay

To say goodbye: Bye. bye bye bye




Pictures:
This is the blob. The blob is basically a giant air filled pillow in the water. Someone sits at the end and the other person jumps onto the blob from about 15 feet in the air causing the person at the end to fly into the water. Because of my expression you can tell that it is really scary to be the person getting "blobbed".
My cabin in nerd gear
nerdy me
a really good picture that I got of our morning chapel stage
there were deer prints on almost every trail
half of my cabin
climbing the rock wall
me and my friend Adrienne at Duck Dynasty night
eating a family style meal at Duck Dynasty night
giant bowling
If you want to see more pictures go to carolinacreek.org and click on pictures then click on creekside week one and go through the days in the week.

Monday, June 9, 2014

11 random questions


1. What is your favorite type of cheese?
I would have to go with cheddar jack. Not only does it taste good, but it looks neat too.

2.  What are you excited about?
Right now we are actually preparing to put our house on the market. I'm pretty excited to see what will happen this summer.

3.  How did you celebrate your last birthday?  
This and this.

4.   What is on your bedside table?
My bedside table is actually a bookshelf. An alarm clock, three decorative mason jars, and some gathering dust.

5. What do you order from the movie theater concession stand?
Typically I will order a large root beer and share a large popcorn with the rest of my family (the popcorn never makes it 20 minutes into the movie).

6.  Do you have a garden?  What's growing?
Weeds.

7.  Any summer plans?
To get rid of whatever sickness I have right now.

8.  What TV couple are you rooting for?
I'm not really rooting for anyone at the moment.

9.  What's the last thing you bought?
A hat and sunglasses from CCCC.

10.  What's one thing you are passionate about?
Sleep.

11.  What are you grateful for this week?
My family, my opportunity to go to camp, and green tea in my pantry to help with my throat.

The rules say that I must now tag eleven bloggers, so Ms. Alicia, Crystal, Jadyn (on your mom's blog), and Ms. Jessica please help me to reach eleven. Thanks!

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

A Wrinkle in time Book review

I read the book, A Wrinkle In Time and also watched the movie to go along with it. The book was written by Madeline L'engle and won the 1963 Newbery Medal. The movie and the book have many similarities and differences, but before I list those I will give a summary of the book.
                                 Summary
  In the book A Wrinkle In Time there is a family of five. Meg is the oldest of the four children and she is never pleased with herself because she has glasses and braces. Charles Wallace is the youngest. Somehow he has the ability to read people in a way; he sort of knows what they are thinking. The twins fall in between the ages. While Charles Wallace was still a baby their father had disappeared without any reason. He worked in a secret force in the government. The people who were in charge of the force said that he was fine, but nobody in the force believed this because they used to send him letters and he would reply, though now when they sent him letters he would not reply.
  One night a woman named Ms. Whatsit  came knocking on the door. She was covered in sheets and scarves, she also wore rubber boots. Charles Wallace claimed to have known her, but nobody else in the family did. When she was leaving she said something about a tesseract. This startled the children's mother because the tesseract was joked about between her and her husband who had disappeared. 
  The day after Ms. Whatsit's visit Charles Wallace took Meg to the haunted house where Ms. Whatsit lived so that Meg could properly meet her. Instead of finding Ms. Whatsit at the haunted house they found a boy named Calvin. Calvin was popular being the best player on the basketball team. Charles Wallace invited Calvin to his house for dinner.
  While at the house the three children were transferred to another planet. This type of transportation was called tessering. On the planet that they were transferred or tessered to Ms. Whatsit was there. She explained that a tesseract was a wrinkle in time She used an ant for her example. If the ant was on one side of her skirt then it would take a while for the ant to get to the other side of the skirt, though if there was a wrinkle in the skirt then the ant would get to the other side quickly. After the explanation about the tesseract the children met Ms. Who and Ms. Which. Ms. Who found it hard to speak her own words so she used quotes from other people instead. Ms. Which was wise and would be right about nearly everything. The planet that they were on was beautiful. Ms. Whatsit turned into a creature that looked like it was half man- half pegasus. The children rode on the transformed Ms. Whatsit while exploring the beauty of the planet. All sorts of creatures flew throughout the skies and sang a merry song. Ms. Whatsit flew the children to a place where they could see a big cloud of darkness. The cloud scared the three children, though they later found out that the cloud overshadowed Earth. Meg and charles Wallace's father was on another overshadowed planet and the children would have to save him without the Ms. Ws.
  The children arrived at the planet. Every thing on the planet was following the same rhythm and everyone was doing the same thing. This was caused by something called IT. Charles Wallace was afraid because he could not read these people like he could read the people on Earth.
  The three children reached a big building. Inside of the building there was a man who had red eyes. The man made Charles Wallace think that he would be fine if he drew himself to the man, though when he did he began to be a different person; he had the same body but the Charles Wallace speaking was not the same.
  Later Meg found her father and had accomplished what she came to do, but now she had to get the real Charles Wallace back. Charles Wallace Was taken over by IT. IT was inside of a dome shaped building. When Meg, her father, and Calvin arrived at the building their heart, lungs, and other organs worked at the same tempo. Meg tried to fight the rhythm, but IT was too strong and IT nearly killed her. Before IT could hurt her too bad her father tessered himself, Meg, and Calvin to another planet.
  This planet was colorless. The creatures that lived on the planet came to the three and offered to care for Meg because she was sort of hurt. Once Meg as feeling better the Ms. Ws decided that it would be best that she return to the planet where Charles Wallace was alone to try to defeat IT again.
  Meg returned to the planet and defeated IT using the one thing that IT did not have which was love; she said to Charles Wallace repetitively that she loved him.
  IT was part of the darkness and when IT was defeated the darkness was defeated too.
  In the end Meg, Charles Wallace, their father, and Calvin returned happily back to the planet that was now no longer shadowed: Earth.



                                 Similarities and differences
The book and movie have some differences. One difference is that some people are mentioned more or less in the movie than they are in the book. Another difference that I noticed was that some of the events that happened in the book were either switched around or not mentioned in the movie causing a somewhat different outcome. somewhat different outcome. For example: In the book first Charles Wallace became controlled by IT and then his father was found, but in the book The father was found first. Another example is that in the book meg and Calvin met Ms. Who and Ms. Which after they tessered, though in the movie it was vice versa.



                                             Conclusion
A Wrinkle In Time was an adventurous book about how love can do anything (even save the universe). I thought that it was easy to understand the meaning of the book and that the picture that the book produced was clear. I enjoyed this bok and hope to read the next on in the series too.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Do you want to eat a snow cone- Rewrite of do you want to build a snow man

Do you want to eat a snow cone?
Oh yes I know you do

When you eat snow cones,
you calm your tone
and you're in a happy mood

If you had a snow cone
you'd never sigh
and especially not cry

Do you want to eat a snow cone?
(I'll make a fluffy snow cone)

I already have one

Okay, sigh
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Do you want to eat a snow cone?
Or eat a yummy piece of cake

It's kind of hard to stand here
never knowing what to make

It's hardly ever easy
just to wait along 
and keep on singing this song

La La La La La La La La
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Please,
I know you want one

I really know you do

I have to stand here

and wait along 
and finish this song 
all until you say I do

It's only frozen water
all crushed up

It doesn't taste like dog food

Do you want to eat a snow cone?

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Rock Climbing

Rock climbing is a sport that takes lots of endurance and strength. Our neighbors own an indoor rock climbing gym called Stone Moves. I am on the rock climbing team, so every Tuesday and Thursday night I get to go and climb according to the schedule assigned to that night. For the past few weeks we (me and the rest of the people on the team) have had four stations that we have gone to every night. The first station is top roping where we climb to the top of a top roping wall. Then we get lowered down to the ground by our partner. In the second station we do four by fours. When you do four by fours you climb four different bouldering walls (a bouldering wall is a wall that is shorter than a top roping wall and also at a greater angle) four times each. The third station that we would go to would be the traverse. During the traverse we climb horizontally across all of the top roping walls. Whenever we finish we climb back to the start of the traverse. The last station is my "favorite". We head upstairs into the small workout area that they have and we do pull ups, push ups, bicep curls and more. This is extremely tiring, yet it is also effective; all of these workouts make you stronger. We aren't supposed to grab just any holds that we see on the wall to get to the top. All of the holds on the wall are marked with different colors of tape. Every color is meant for a different level. For example if you were a beginner in rock climbing then you would climb a white route (a route marked with only white tape for your hands and feet) because white routes are the easiest. If you were advanced in your climbing you might be able to do a black route (a route marked with black tape), black is the hardest level.


I will list some of the equipment that we use so that we don't end up hurting ourselves.

1. a climbing rope is attached to the climber's and the belayer's  harness  so that the climber will not fall to the ground if they slip on a hold. Ropes are not needed on bouldering walls because they aren't tall enough to allow you to hurt yourself when you fall.

2. A harness is put around a person's waist and is attached to the rope.
3. A bag of climbing chalk is attached to your harness. Climbing chalk is rubbed onto the hands so that sweat won't cause you to slip.


 
4. Climbing shoes have a point at the end so that you can step on small footholds. This is the climbing shoe that I have.
5. This is the tape that I mentioned earlier. It is put on the wall so that you know where to place your hands and feet based on your climbing level. You may want to click on the second picture to better see the tape.


The first picture is of a top roping wall and the second is of a bouldering wall. Notice how much taller the top roping wall is. Also notice the angle of the bouldering wall.




Here is one more image to show how belaying works.


Thursday, April 10, 2014

Work of Fire- a cinquain poem

Firework.
Booming, colorful.
Bursting, blazing, burning.
Popcorn in the sky.
Explosion.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

The search for a new wizard Part 3

The day of the competition came. The castle was filled with kings and queens from thousands of miles away. Officials were everywhere and judges were taking their seats. All of the wizards were preparing themselves to perform their magic. An puzzled-looking official approached the king who was holding the event. "Your majesty", the official said, "the tournament is strictly for wizards only and always has been. Equinox is a witch. Only Routan can compete." The king was alarmed by this, but the contest started in six minutes. There was no way possible to find a wizard instead of the witch in six minutes. Routan would have to compete alone in the competition.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

The search for a new wizard Part 2


  The king only had a week until the competition, so he needed a wizard to replace Silverado immediately or else Equinox would have to compete alone. The king searched and searched for a new wizard. A few of the wizards' names were Pilot, Odyssey, and Routan. The king was going to meet each of the wizards to see if any of them were worthy enough to be one of the royal wizards. Pilot was not worthy enough to be the royal wizard, he dressed himself in a cape made of grass along with shoes that were made of tree roots and he would not allow the king to give him a new wardrobe. Royal wizards had to be dressed in a cape made of cotton and shoes made of silver. Odyssey had just as many issues as Silverado. The king did not know what to do. He met many wizards and none of them were worthy of being the king's wizard. The king was about to give up, but then he met Routan who met all of the king's needs perfectly and was suitable to the king. The king welcomed Routan to the tower that he would sleep in that night. He would have to get a good nights sleep because the competition was the next day.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The search for a new wizard Part 1

This blog is based on our search for a new car... with a twist


There was once a magical kingdom that had two wizards. One of the wizards' names was Equinox. She was a terrific wizard. The other wizard's name was Silverado. His had some issues, plus he was very high maintenance. The king thought it may be best to replace Silverado because very soon the king would hold a wizardry tournament and the kingdom that won would get a gold chest worth two billion American dollars. Silverado was okay with being sent away because the king had found another kingdom that would be okay with Silverado's issues. He switched over to the other kingdom very quickly. When he did, the king only had one wizard left to compete in the competition.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Rudi

Rudi is my pet dachshund. He is black with red on his face and paws and his tail is almost always wagging. We got him the day after my birthday last year (my birthday is on July 25) from a dachshund rescue called Dream Dachs. Ever since, he has been the sweetest little dog. I am still working on potty training him and he is doing very well. Would anyone reading this blog and knows how to potty train a dog please give me some tips and pointers? Because I could really use some. His favorite thing to do is bark. At nothing. I put him in his kennel to calm him down, but as soon as I let him out he will run out into the middle of the yard and bark. As I am typing this he is barking. I am used to his barking now so it doesn't really bother me anymore. His favorite toy is his bone that he got a couple of days ago. He has it in his mouth all of the time now. I have taught Rudi a few tricks: how to chase his tail, how to go through a hoop, and how to sit on command. Now he will do those things without me giving him treats. Not only does Rudi like to play but he is also a good lap dog. My lap is his nap-time bed. Rudi is a smart dog with his own personality.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

On the day I was born

An exaggerated tale of the day I was born.

On the day I was born I came out looking like a cat. My spine was too long, my nails looked like claws, there was extra hair on my body, and I had whiskers. There was a strange lady who lived in Nacogdoches who could cast spells. The doctors called her cell-phone number which was 832-345-7849. They told her the situation and she hung up the phone. An hour later while the doctors were pacing around the delivery room there was a knock at the door. "Thump thump". The doctors closed the curtains and opened the door. At the door stood the magical woman, Ms.Tikombokum. She had black hair with a silver streak on one side. Ms.Tikombokum had on magenta leggings and a crimson dress. Her eyes were a striking purple color and her lips were blood red. "May I see the child?" she said. When the doctors pulled the curtain she screamed with terror and ran off. 

The doctors started pacing again. "What should we do?" said one. "Well there is always Charloette," said another. The room got quiet. Charloette was Ms. Tikombokum's sister. She had just as many powers as Ms.Tikombokum and she did not get easily frightened.  There was a problem, though.  She was only fifteen, and not only that, the last time she cast a spell it backfired on her. Ms.Tikombokum helped Charloette turn back into a witch after she turned herself into a root beer float (that Charloette meant to drink). 

The doctors were willing to take a chance. Charloette and her family lived in the apartment next to the hospital so a doctor hurried over and got her. Charloette had blonde hair with blue streaks all over. She wore rainbow leggings and a neon yellow swimsuit cover-up. Her eyes were bright blue and her lips were a pink rose color. She knew that she was going to cast a spell, but the doctor did not tell her what kind.  As soon as she saw me she immediately cast a spell: "Dog gone cat gone non-human gone!"

 My spine was shorter, my nails had a rounded edge, I had very little hair, and the whiskers turned into peach fuzz. Someone noticed that Charloette disappeared; someone else noticed that the fish from the fish bowl in the room was gone. The other rooms with fish bowls still had fish but the room I was in no longer had anyone nor anything that was not human. 

Ms. Tikombokum is still among us, but as far as Charloette goes, nobody knows.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Night book review

I enjoyed the book titled Night, written by Elie Wiesel. The book was an intriguing and sad story about the author's early life during the holocaust. The author's name is Elie Wiesel (Eliot Wiesel). He is a survivor from the Holocaust of which took place starting around the year 1933. During the Holocaust the dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler, wanted to execute all Jews who lived in Europe before the holocaust. Millions of Jews were killed. Nazis were non-Jews who were brain washed into Hitler's ideas about experimenting on and killing Jews. If any of the Jews disobeyed the Nazis, they would be beaten, murdered, or even put to death. The Nazis were very cruel to the Jews and would kill them for no reason. The Nazi who killed them would laugh. A good example of their cruelty is that infants would be thrown into the air to be used as gun targets.The Nazis sent the Jews to ghettos so that they would all be in one spot. After being in the ghettos, the Jews were brought to concentration camps where they would be put to work and fed very little. Every once in a while in the concentration camps Jews would be selected to be killed. There were a series of camps and each one that they were sent to was harder than the last, but they all had the same basic schedule: wake up, drink coffee, work, eat soup and bread, work, roll call, work, sleep.The Jews worked all year long. The Jews were running on one occasion in the winter to an abandoned village; if one of them slowed down, they would be trampled and killed. Whenever the author and his father got there the author almost immediately fell asleep, but his father quickly woke him up because the ground was covered  in snow and corpses. Many of the corpses on the ground had died from falling asleep in the freezing cold snow. 
 At some parts of the book it is overwhelming, though there was some small moments of comical relief. For example, when the author described the infants being used as target practice, I was overwhelmed with sadness.  At one part of the book, though, the author's father put on some jeans that were meant for a child; it made me chuckle.
 The author expresses deep feelings in the book and also goes into great detail about his experiences. Not only does the author explain his experiences, but he explains the people who were with him in the concentration camps, too. There was a friend of the author who was said to have loved his violin very much and in the book he died while playing it in the cold. The violin was his only comfort since he had nothing else. In other words, the author explains the reason behind why the people in the book did what they did. The author describes his family, also, of which consisted of him, his sister, his mother, and his father. His mother and sister were separated from the author and his father at the beginning of the book because men and women had to be separated. His father was with him throughout the book but in the end his father got sick and died along with millions of other people. 
Death came to the jews through gunshots, gas chambers, sickness, and hangings.  The hangings in general were common occurrences witnessed by the prisoners. The prisoners saw so many hangings that they were desensitized.  However, one particular hanging was unbearable for the author; that of a kind and young pipel. He was well liked by the prisoners. When he was hanged his body was too light and his neck did not snap like it was supposed to so he hung there choking and dying a slow death. The author describes his food tasting of corpses that dismal evening.  

At a concentration camp one day the Jews did not have to work. Some people ate bread crumbs off of the floor and others remained working. The author went into the kitchen. He wandered around the building and stumbled upon one of the Nazis having an affair. When the Nazi spotted the author he got mad at him for wandering around the building (even though there was no rule that they weren't allowed to). The next day the author got whipped 23 times and he passed out. 
 Near the end of the book the author completely lost faith in god because of the physical and mental state that he was in. He was skinny, hungry, and his foot was infected. I am hoping that he regained faith in god even with what he went through. It does not say if he did or did not in the book. 
When Hitler was defeated by surrounding countries the few Jews that lived were freed from captivity and no longer were under the Nazis' command. When the author was freed he first went to a place to eat before going to the hospital to treat his pus-oozing foot. He said that he had no thought of revenge, only of food.  There was a girl in the book who had been kind to the author during their time at the concentration camp. Years later the (now grown up) girl and the author met again on a metro rail and had coffee with him that day. The book never mentions whether or not Elie Wiesel reunited with his mother and sister.  Before I read this book I didn't realize that the Jews were tormented and went through devastating events.  I have a better understanding now that I've read this book and studied the holocaust. The book really amazed me by how the author explained his past. Some things made me laugh and others made my eyes get teary. There were a few passages that I did not understand; though I understood the overall message. If I were Elie Wiesel, I wouldn't have been able to bear the pain that he felt for more than a day. I could have read the book over and over again and still have felt the same emotions that I felt the first time I read it. 

Monday, January 27, 2014

Jack

Jack is my little brother. He is a sweet, fat, chunk of love who is very curious and observant. He is currently one year old and will turn two in March. These are some of his favorite things.


Food

Jack and food are like peanut butter and jelly (of which he will eat). If you were to give Jack a piece of bread and glanced away for a second, it would be gone when you looked back. I think he breathes food. (:



Bear

Jack loooooves his bear. "Bear" is what Jack calls his big teddy bear. Jack goes everywhere with his bear. He will sleep with him, bring him in the car, and drag him around the house. Bear is Jack's best friend.


Markers

occasionally Jack will write on himself or furniture with markers. He is very sneaky and will do it without anyone knowing.


Cars

To Jack cars are not called cars, to him they are called "bbrrrs" and to him also make that sound. Jack will use any surface for a racetrack (your arm, the couch, a table etc.). He will also transform anything with wheels into a car such as a suitcase.




Jack is so precious and I love him.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Friends and family



 I have lots of companions. Some are younger than others but they are still my friends.

What I consider a friend is an individual who is understanding, doesn't judge, and is fun to be around. Those qualities are treasured to me.

My friends and I do lots together such as swimming, making crafts, camping, etc.

                                                  Here are a few pics of my friends and I:




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Jenna and I at the roller rink



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Jadyn and I with facial masks


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Rylee and I on a strange tree that we found at our camp site


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Jakob, Gracie, Maggie, and I at the pool


Not only are my friends treasured to me but my family as well.
Here are a few more pics of me and my family:



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Daddy dropping me off at SCBC

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Mommy and I doing a hoola hoop routine




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Arden and I go kart racing




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Pushing Jack in his make-shift car




I love my family and friends because they are always there for me.