Vincent's (and my) Essays

This morning Vincent asked me to help him with his essays, so I agreed. He had to write a topical outline, and select a subject for it from a list in his English book, so I told him to pick 'family traditions'.
ANNOUNCEMENT: This composition was written by us both!!!
P.S. It's only a topical outline, definitely not real life, hahaha!!!


Our Family Traditions

I. Sunday Traditions
A. Sleeping in until 5:00
B. Playing on the computer all day
C. Eating spaghetti with our hands
D. Dancing/Singing in the shower
E. Painting our faces like wild Indians and war-whooping
II. Monday Traditions
A. Waking up at 6:00
B. Tangoing
1. In the attic at 6:30
2. In the basement at 9:00
III. Tuesday Traditions
A. Watching the Navy Seal Callisthenic Workout
B. Eating onion roots
1. For dinner
2. For midnight snack
C. Phoning friends anonymously
IV. Wednesday Traditions
A. Playing soccer
1. In the sand
2. In a pond
3. On the roof
4. In the linen closet
B. Community Service
C. Doing pranks
1. On our siblings
2. On our parents
3. On our friends
4. On our neighbors
D. Spreading toothpaste on the walls
V. Thursday Traditions
A. Chores
1. Pretending to clean the walls
2. Pretending to clean the floors
3. Pretending to make our beds
4. Pretending to wash our laundry
5. Pretending to scrub the toilets
B. Eating
1. Locusts
2. Wild honey
VI. Friday Traditions
A. Play dolls
B. Eat zucchini cake for breakfast
C. Have fun
1. Get sun burnt
2. Have a water fight
3. Answer the phone and put it in a basin of water
D. Eat unhealthily
VII. Saturday Traditions
A. Bite our fingernails non-stop all day
B. Visit our friends in retirement homes
C. Eat toothpaste
D. Watch movies all night
VIII. Everyday Traditions
A. Drink ice cream with straws
B. Play playmobile on the roof
C. Go to Disneyland
1. Ferris Wheel
2. Roller Coaster
3. Humpty Dumpty
4. Eat some cheesecake
D. Do cartwheels instead of walking
E. Chug six water bottles per person
F. Take five-hour long showers
G. Go to sleep past midnight

Speaking of essays, he also had to write a comparison and contrast essay, and so he wrote one on the difference between wisdom and knowledge. He wrote it after he wrote the "Family Traditions" one, and in the middle of it we started being extremely foolish and we both wrote this:

Knowledge is knowing knowledge and being knowledgeable; wisdom is having wisdom and being wiser than a wiseman.

JT Activity on Thursday

Here are some photos from a JT activity we had on Thursday evening.

These last two photos are of the June birthdays (the reason we had the party); however, only three of the four's birthdays were actually in June--one of them was actually an impostor and just pretended because he wanted the extra portion of cake and ice cream the birthday people get.

My Pictures

Here are some pictures that I made in Printshop. They weren't made for anybody in particular (except for the first one, which is dedicated to Chris and Tete), and you can copy them and use them for whatever you want.


This first one is dedicated to Chris and Stephanie, who are getting married at the end of June. Congratulations!

And the rest of these aren't for anybody in particular--you can use them for whatever you want (if you want:D).

Jesus is my Friend

You have to see this video

Pics of the JT activity

Here are the pictures of the JT activity I promised. Enjoy!


ice cream!!!!!!!!!!!!

hamburgers

U. Simon giving the teens a class

the skit of the talents

burying her one talent

"Look, our master is back!"

"I was supposed to invest it???"

Waiting for the master (the photos aren't exactly in order:D)

"But....but....."

And that's it!

Earth Day

On Sunday it ws Earth Day so we went to the park and met up with the other home. There were a bunch of animals and we planted trees. It was insanely cold. Well, here are some pictures.

The guy asked for a volunteer, a bunch of people raised their hands, but he picked me:D

yep, the lizard's licking me (that's how he smells). If you zoom up to the picture you can see the tongue more clearly.

i was brave enough to pick up the millipede:P

I wonder who that person is, labouring so hard to "save mother earth":P

there was a girl with a bunch of birds

that's it for now

JT activity (in the rain:D)

Yesterday we had a JT activity at the park. It was supposed to be super sunny but it started raining so we went under a sheltered area with picnic tables. We had inspiration, then Uncle Simon read Matthew 25 and Andre, Eman, and Marieanne acted it out in a very funny skit:D. Then some people went to play soccer in the rain, but the rest of us stayed under the sheltered area and played a game. The game we played was where one person stands in the middle and the rest of the people sit around them in a circle. The person in the middle then says something that they've never done (for example, "I've never been on an airplane", or "I've never eaten Australian food"). The people who have done that have to jump up and switch seats, and the person in the middle has to try to take someone's seat. If only one person gets up, then they just switch. Then after that some of us girls were trying to find a bathroom. Oh, the first place we went into was a school, and we were a couple of feet away from the entrance of the bathroom, when this janitor lady comes up to us and says,"What are you doing here? Who are you with?" Marieanne replied that we just wanted to use the bathroom. "Well," the lady replied. "This is a private function. YOU'RE TRESPASSING!!! This is a religious mosque. You'd better leave right now!" (when she said 'you're trespassing' she didn't shout) So we left in a hurry:P. We finally found a bathroom after about 15 minutes of walking around searching for one. Then we went back to the sheltered area and we had hamburgers for dinner. Then we had vanilla ice cream in ice cream cones and cookies for dessert:P. Then we went home. I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

English Madness

Let's face it -- English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or french fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, two geese. So one moose, two meese?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend, that you comb through annals of history but not a single annal? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn't the preacher praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? Park on driveways and drive on parkways?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another?
Have you noticed that we talk about certain things only when they are absent? Have you ever seen a horseful carriage (as compared to a horseless one) or a strapful gown (as opposed to a strapless)? Met a sung hero ("unsung") or experienced requited ("unrequited") love? Have you ever run into someone who was combobulated, gruntled, ruly or peccable?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm clock goes off by going on, and to maintain good posture while sitting you must sit up and sit down at the same time.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn't a race at all).
That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it.

Woohoo!!!!

I'm so happy! Today I finally got a new bed (as the one I'd been using before was broken). And it even has two shelves at the head (that's the main reason why I like it so much). Well, I just thought I'd share my joy with everybody!

Woohoo!

Last night me, Vince, and my parents drove all the way to Buffalo Airport to pick up Marianne, who will be staying with us for around a month to get a new passport. It was super good to see you, MA! We came home at like 1:00 in the morning. And tonight (Tuesday night) my parents are going out for dinner, so we're gonna have family time with Marianne! I just wanted to say welcome and it's super good to see you! I love you tons!


P.S. Soon there will be "Hired or Fired" part two!!!!! It will come out sometime in the next week.

Movie Night and Sunday

On Saturday night we watched "For Richer or Poorer" for our movie, and we had punch and chocolate ice cream. The next morning, I slept in till 12:15 or something. Then I went downstairs but everyone had already eaten so there were no more pancakes left, and I had to make my own. So for an hour I cooked, ate, and washed my dishes. The kids all went to a place called "Sugar Bush", "Maple Shack", and it might have had another name. Anyways, so Vince and I went out for a walk in the sunny, slightly windy 15 above zero weather. Then we got home and I played Civilization III for an hour and something minutes. Then I came upstairs and posted. All the adults except for Eman are out. Actually, Dad might be home but I'm not sure. They went to Robin's birthday party (he's turning 8). Anyways, I have to go now. Bye!

My Stamp Collection (and our trip to IMAX)

On March 19th we provisioned tickets to the Imax theatre. We watched a 3D underwater film. It was so cool, it felt like you could just reach out and touch the fish! The scariest part was when it showed the poisonous water snakes. They were swimming up towards you and seemed to just disappear right into your shirt! We provisioned the tickets but the manager asked if we could buy snacks cause that's how he makes his money. So I bought three scoops of ice cream. We wore goggles/glasses type of thing. That's what made it 3D. It was super cool!

And now for the main subject of this post. This is my magnificent stamp collection:P The pictures are kind of junky and the lighting isn't super good but here they are anyways.

This first picture is of my African ones.

The left half is African ones, and the right half is South American, Latin American, and Mexican stamps.

The left half is of South American, Latin American, and Mexican stamps, and the right half is of Asian stamps.

The left half is Asian stamps, and the right half is European stamps.

The left half is European stamps, and the right half is Australian stamps and random stamps from no country.

And all the rest of the stamps are from Canada and the USA