Christmas!

Is it okay that I am writing this after Christmas?

I had gone to bed Christmas Eve impatiently. On the night before Christmas, can you go to sleep fast? When I woke up, I went downstairs to see what there was. We opened presents before breakfast instead of after breakfast. I got what I wanted; a Nerf gun, a LEGO truck, a snowboard, an Elgin Cyclones sweatshirt and water bottle, and some candy. I am very happy with what I got for Christmas.

Yesterday, we went over to Grandma and Papa Baker's house to sleep over and do some shopping. Connor and Taylor came over too. Today, we went shopping at Target, GameStop, Meijer, and Hobby Lobby. I bought all that I was looking for.

Christmas is a fun season!

A Day With Grandma and Papa Baker

I was excited. Mom had told us that we were doing something special with the cousins(Lindsey, Kelsey, Connor, and Taylor) and Grandma and Papa Baker. She said that we were going to have lunch with them. I wondered where that was. When we got to their house, we had to leave to the restaurant immediately. The girls got into the Toyota Prius and the boys got into Papa's Hyundai Vericruise. We drove for a while. Oh....wait. I just remembered that mom told us we were also doing another thing with them. Anyway, we ended up at Colonial Cafe. All of us ordered some food and a drink(duh). I, of course, got a mac'n cheese bacon melt sandwich, and a vanilla coke.

After the Colonial Cafe, we went to the Paramount Theatre in Chicago. We were going to see the play "Annie".

It was a great play. They had professionals performing the play. They took out some of the parts from the film, and added some of their own, according to Megan. There was even an intermission! The performers did a very good job acting out the play. "Daddy Warbucks" had hair.

Afterwards, we went to Culver's to get some ice cream. I got a hot fudge shake with strawberrys inside of it.

We drove back to Grandma and Papa's house, where we found our parents.

Days with Grandma and Papa are awesome!

The Christmas Program at Co-op

Six days until Christmas! I'm sorry I haven't wrote any blogs lately. Anyway, the Christmas program we had at co-op last Sunday was very fun.  I went up first to play Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree and Carol of the Bells, because first there were some solo music peices that some kids from our co-op were going to play. Ryan did two songs on his saxophone with two of our friends. After that, there were some dramas that kids acted out.  Megan participated in one called "The Computer Skit". Then there were some songs that the kids from the performance class sang. We all sang Ludwig van Beethoven's "Joyful, Joyful".

Later, when it was over, there were refreshments to have. They were gone fast. Even so, kids managed to stuff themselves with food and apple juice. All the kids played games outside and inside the building.
Papa Baker has been painting our bathroom walls, and soon enough mom and dad's room, and the back staircase.

Christmas 2012 will be here soon.

My Second Swim Meet

I should stop this "My First Swim Meet" and "My Second Swim Meet" for titles. Whatever. I couldn't think of anything else. Anyway, I had a great time. When I woke up at 6:00 in the morning to get all ready and stuff, mom wrote what I was going to do and when on the back of my hand. It's still there. Dad took me to the Centre, where I do swimming. Mom took Ryan and Megan right before it started. My coach told me that I had to wait in the gym until I had to swim.

I waited a long time.

When I finally got to go and swim in event #14, heat 1, in lane 7, I was happy. Events and heats is how they divide the racing sessions. We had to do a 100 breaststroke. Surprisingly, out of eight 11-12 year-old boys, I got fifth. I was congratulated by my coach and my family.

I waited another long time. While I did, I played 31 (a card game Papa Don taught me) with another swimmer on the Elgin Cyclones. My coach had some cards, and she asked if I had something to do. I said no. So my coach gave me some cards to play with.

Finally, I got to swim again. I was in event 16, heat 1, in lane 3. We had to do a 50 freestyle. I got last.

Afterwards, I had a bagel. Swimming is fun (and if you're asking, I did not get a T-shirt this time). 

A Bible Story: Me Learning About the Tabernacle

I woke up to a normal morning today.

When I got up, I was, like usual, the "Early Bird". I did my usual talking with mom for a while, then took Daisy, our dog, to wake up Ryan and Megan. We expected our daily cereal or pancakes. Instead, we saw a big paper towel spread across the counter where us kids eat. Ryan immediately said, "What the heck is going on?"

Megan did not like this. I saw the microwave spinning and spinning, and then the beeps that the microwave does when it's done. Mom took out a bag of popcorn. Megan immediately asked if that was our breakfast. Mom nodded. Megan complained the whole time.

"It's your manna," mom said, "and you're complaining, just like the Israelites did during the Exodus."

Duh. I had forgotten. We were studying the book of Exodus for Bible.

We couldn't eat anything else until lunch. When the Yuns, our homeschool friends, came over, we did some tabernacle activities with them. Mom had set up a "Prayer Tent" in the living room. We went youngest to oldest in the Prayer Tent. We also made little model Tabernacles from old shoeboxes and little paper foldings.

Sometimes, having a different school day can make even school really fun.    

A Normal Day, Except For....

Except for what? Oh....duh. I forgot. It's 12/12/12 today! It's the last what-kind-of date again? Wait a second. Oh! Now I remember! It's the last repetitive date! I learned that from Pinterest! Grammy was looking at it and I saw something that said repetitive on it. Anyway, I am excited about today because it is 12/12/12 and it's near Christmas. I had a great time in the car on the ride home from Michigan.(Even though that was a while ago, but I never got to write about it!) Christmas is coming up very fast, and I cannot stand the wait! Christmas has to be here soon. All this waiting must be killing my thinking skills, because I seem to not have anything to write about. My brain is slow today. Anyway, it was a normal day today. I of course had school today, even though I am homeschooled. I did my usual math lesson on the computer (duh) Bible, science, writing, and cursive writing (ULTRA DUH).

Ahh.... sometimes even a normal day can be relaxing.  

Our Nice Trip to Michigan

I remember all the days when I was little and we would come to Michigan ALOT. I also remember the last time just us boys came to Michigan with dad for a short time. This time, dad took just me because he had a camp meeting to go to. We had fun in the car, listening to the radio most of the time. We talked some of the time. We stopped at a McDonald's to get some food along the way for dinner. I played my PSP a little. 

When we got there, I walked in the door with my bag, without even knocking! I found grammy on her computer (the one I'm using now). 

"Blogging?" I asked immediately.

"What are you doing here? Did you drive yourself?"

When dad and I got ourselves all set up in the bedroom, we talked for a little bit, and watched America's Funniest Home Videos for a while. You know, the tradition of watching that? We've done THAT for years. We had such a great time today, it went by like a bullet. We had a delicious breakfast of waffles. Papa took me to see the LEGO display at the Museum again, and then we went to see the Polar Express at their IMAX theatre in 3D. When we came home, I wrote my recipe blog, and then went in the hot tub. I made my own muffins with a little help from papa. I went down to play Wii for a little bit. Oh, and earlier today Riley and Brady came over to have breakfast with us. They came over again today for pizza. Papa, Riley and I played a game of Monopoly before Riley and Brady had to leave. I won.

I had so much fun today, I can hardly believe I am finally writing this blog about today. I also can't believe that we are leaving tomorrow.

Recipe: How to Make the Best Chocolate Cupcake

My grandma taught me this simple 3-2-1 recipe for the best cupcakes EVER!

You will need:

1 box of Angels food cake mix (chocolate)

1 box of Devils food cake mix (chocolate)

The easiest way to remember that is just think: Angels and Devils.

1 box of any other chocolate cake mix

Coffee mug

Water

Put all of the Angels and Devils, and the other cake mix you chose into a big Ziploc bag. Close up the bag tightly. Next, shake it up until well mixed. Now for the 3-2-1 part. Take a coffee mug and put 3 tablespoons of your newly made cake mix into it. Now put 2 tablespoons of water in the coffee mug. Put the mug in the microwave for 1 minute. Take out and enjoy. (This is for only one cupcake. Repeat until bag is gone.)

Tip: Putting whipped cream on top is even more tasty.

The Christmas Season Is Here!

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merrrry Christmas! A few days ago we set up our Christmas tree, and the little one in the Bonus Room upstairs. Yesterday we worked on the ornaments, and it was fun to remember all the old ornaments we set up every year. The little tree had homemade LEGO ornaments, and there were some loose Star Wars LEGO guys climbing around the tree. We called the little battling dudes "Operation Christmas Tree" because their mission was to destroy the battle droids during the Christmas season, once and for all. Ryan is trying to give me some advice on how to make it better, but I won't listen to him. Anyway, we are starting to celebrate Christmas now. Megan, my sister, seemed to like putting the stockings up. I am learning some new Christmas songs on the piano like "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" and "Carol of the Bells". We set up a white magnetic plate that hangs on the wall. As it gets closer to Christmas, you move the star magnet around to show how many days until Christmas. We also got out our Advent Calendar.

As it gets closer to Christmas, people seem to feel so much more joy and happiness in the world. Christmas is a very good holiday.

My First Swim Meet

Yesterday I had my first swim meet. First I did warm-ups for thirty minutes, and then it started. All the swimmers had to do something called an IM Order where you do breaststroke, then backstroke, then butterfly, and freestyle. I was surprised by how well I dove off the block, because for the past few times I had done it, I had done it not so well. Parents timed us, and Mom even timed me some of the time. I was very happy with how well I swam. My highest placing was 2nd, because if they hadn't been timing us and if it had been a race, that would have been my placing. My family cheered me on the whole time.

When the swim meet was over, I got to pick out a T-shirt. I picked out one that read, "Hey! Over here. I've found bacon!" Above, it showed one of those people you might see on a walk-across-the-street sign, except it was swimming.
I really liked my first swim meet. I thought it was very, very fun.

The Orthodontist Trip

I am very excited because this is my first blog (although once I wrote one of my grandma's).
Today I went to the orthodontist to get some metal rings put in on my molars behind my braces and I also got my wire changed. When we got there, there was surprisingly no people. Good for us though, because then we didn't have to wait. Anyway, I was called in to get the metal rings put in. First they took out the wire. Then they got to the rings. They struggled a little trying to get different sizes to fit, and I had to bite down on this weird orange thing to help get it in. That was my right molar. Now for the left one. We did not get it in because it hurt. Why? There was so much gum tissue there that it felt like it was practically digging in. Ouch. Ryan, my brother, went to the orthodontist too to get his wire changed. Back to my story. I got to choose my color for my braces. I, of course, picked red and green because it is nearing Christmas. I asked Ryan what he had picked. He said, "Red and green." I said, "Me too."
When we were driving away, Mom suggested smoothies. We all agreed immediately and ordered some from McDonald's.

I think I did a good job for a first-time blogger. What about you?