Author: Sarah

Waiting

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J+M+J

At 2:30, I am leaving for a quiz bowl, so I am currently checking the clock every five minutes. Since this is my freshman year,  it’s only my third high school quiz bowl, and the questions are quite a bit harder than middle school quiz bowls have been. I am the youngest on a homeschool team of two junior  girls and a sophomore girls; the same team that I played with at a special Quiz bowl on Nov. 7 called a NAQT (National Academic Quiz Tournament) and won third place, qualifying to go to the nationals in Chicago in May.

It is now 1:15, only an hour and fifteen minutes left to go. I’m going to go do my hair, and I’ll let you know the results later  tonight.

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Conversations During School

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Alexander: “Mom I need to go to the doctor.”

Mom: “Why?”

Alexander: “Because I just coughed.”

Mom: “I don’t think a cough isn’t enough to go to the doctor.”

Alexander: “Oh, well, I have a sore throat, too.”

Mom: “Really?  I haven’t heard you complain about it.”

Alexander (grimacing and putting his hand to his throat): “OW!”

Methinks this could be solved by only offering the foul tasting cod liver oil.

Halloween

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J+M+J

Sadly, this year there was no All Saint’s Eve party  so we decided on Oct. 30 that we would be going trick or treating. For lack of ideas, the boys immediately decided that they would be exactly what they were last year. So, I set The Illustrated Book of World History on the kitchen table and asked Alexander if he wanted to be King Tutankhamun. “Is that a mummy?” he asked, very concerned.

“No, no, of course not,” I answered.

“But he got to be one when he died,” John Paul (who talks too much) put in.

Alexander’s eyes grew wide. “Uh-Uh, I’m not being him,” he firmly announced.

I questioned him about several more historical characters, including Caesar, a viking, a king, and Sitting Bull. He didn’t want any of them. So, I handed him the book and said, “You look through it, I have to go clean the kitchen countertops.” Not five minutes later, he told me he had found something, a Roman Centurion. I though it was a great choice, and began to form a plan in my head as to how to do it.

I wasn’t able to work on it until the afternoon of Halloween, and Alex pestered me every five minutes until then. Finally, I collected materials I thought I would use: a red tunic from past All Saint’s Eve parties, a red turtle neck, a red cape, and cardboard. I put the turtleneck and tunic on him, and then went to look for some string in the  All Saint’s Eve box. Instead, I found some shiny grey fabric left over from  Maria’s Joan of Arc costume. I knew this would be a perfect substitute for the cardboard. I cut it to the right size, made a head hole, and put it on him. Alex began to ask when I was going to be done making the costume, even after he had been so excited to make it. I told him to give me five more minutes, and put a belt around his waist, a sword in his hand , and a helmet on his head. Voila!

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Joseph decided to be Robin Hood, and his costume was easier. Here he is with Johnathan, who made his own costume:

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I wasn’t planning on dressing up this year, but after making Alex’s costume, I decided I had to because I couldn’t stand watching the other kids in their costumes for the kids who came trick or treating to the door. With the bed-sheet tunic I used for Shakespeare camp, a piece of brown fabric, one of Mom’s shirts and an hour’s work on the sewing machine, I had a costume! (And I was so glad I did, because it turned out some of my friends were trick or treating in the neighborhood and they invited me along!)

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I am dressed as Éowyn from the Lord of The Rings books, which I read this summer before watching the movies.

Maria made her own princess costume.

Maria put together her own princess costume.

This is Landon in his own homemade Darth Vader costume.

This is Landon in his own homemade Darth Vader costume.

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Second Thoughts

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J+M+J

After handing the boys a Java Chocolate Chip Frappachino from Starbucks after six o’ clock (translated as a double dose of  caffeine and sugar) Mom asks, “Java, does that mean coffee? Did I just give them a coffee drink?”

I nodded, and Mom cried, “What have I done!?!”

(In Mom’s defense, we had to sit in the car for fourty-five minutes while waiting for Landon’s swim practice to get out. Starbucks was nearby, and it was an easy way to keep the kids occupied.)

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Monarchs on a Mission

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J+M+J

Last Wednesday, September 9, I was sitting at the kitchen table doing my school. I noticed three or four monarch butterflies flying past our window in a span of about a half an hour.  They were flying very close to the window, so I decided that I would try to take a picture of one. I lifted up my camera to focus it, and another flew past, and then another. I hadn’t been expecting them, so I didn’t get a photo, but I decided I had a good chance of getting a nice picture outside since there were so many. When I was outside, I was astonished by the number of monarchs I saw. There was not one moment that there wasn’t a butterfly in sight.

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All of the butterflies were flying southward, except one. He was looking for a snack, which he found on my coneflowers.

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Heated Discussion

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J+M+J

John: “Landon, in the sixth episode of Star Wars, did Boba Fett die by rolling sideways down into the pit?” (Here he laid down onto the ground and rolled sideways to demonstrate)

Alexander: “Or did he fall down like this?” (bending his head down almost to his feet to indicate somersaulting head over heels)

Landon: “I don’t remember.”

John: “I am really sure he went sideways.”

Alexander: “No, I think he went like this.” (Again bending up and down.)

John: “He went like this,” (rolling on the ground) “and that’s final.”

Alexander (not satisfied): “Mom, did Boba Fett go down into the pit like this?” (bending) “Because in the sixth I thought I saw him go like that.”

Mom (While making supper): “Why does it even matter?”

John: “Because we’re playing Star Wars, and Alex really needs to know, because he’s pretending to be Boba Fett!”

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Kid Talk

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J+M+J

Maria-“What happened to the crib? The mattress is higher.”

John- “It has an adjustable waist!”

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Joseph- (singing to no particular tune) “What’s your name? What’s your name? What’s your name?”

Sarah- “What are you doing, Joseph?”

Joseph- “I’m singing ‘what’s your name?'”

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