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Well, I know there’s not any holiday seasonal to celebrate right after Valentine’s Day, but maybe you should throw a party just for fun! Themes and ideas:

Whatever Matters to You Party- This is a special party where everyone gets to pitch in on deciding on a theme. In your family, maybe the most important thing to your mom is that everyone is healthy. Make a special goal to keep everyone in your family healthy all the time. But your dad might think that it’s his new haircut that deserves celebration. Celebrate that, too! Try to see who can draw the best picture of your dad with and without his new ‘do. If your sister is excited that her hair finally grew long, have a contest to see who can make the silliest hairstyle in her hair. Your brother might be excited that he finished his Transformer collection. Have him make up a quiz that tells you which Transformer you are most like. And perhaps you’re glad that you finally trained the dog. Put on a show of all the tricks you’ve taught the puppy. Everyone has something special!

Friendship Celebration- Do you love your buddies? Well, that’s something to celebrate! Create a special friendship scrapbook and watch a friendship movie. Make special snacks together while sharing funny stories and secrets. Remember all the fun days you’ve had together. Play all your favorite games in your pajamas! Have your friends sleep over.

Ocean Breeze Party- True, it’s winter! But snow and ice should never keep you from having fun! Wear your bathing suits and spread out your beach towels in front of the TV. Put on a favorite summer movie , cool and groovy music, and maybe even make island food! Play summer games and draw a picture of a silly dive that you want to do in the pool in the summer. Keep it, and be sure to do it! Take pictures of the family dressed up as pirates, parrots, scuba divers, fish, mermaids, and anything summery or beachy.  Enjoy summer in the winter!

You Name It! Party- For this party, you have to make up your own: plan, outfit, food, movie, layout, setting, game, and theme! Any type of party could be associated with the You Name It! Party.

Try your favorite party. What was it like? Did you take any pictures?

Yesterday our family went to Connecticut. We visited our cousins Dylan, Gracie, and Baby Maggie. I had never seen Maggie before so I was glad to be there. I looked at all the new curtains, Gracie’s new kitchen, played with Dylan and Gracie, and snuggled with Maggie, who fell asleep so adorably and was so irresistibly cute I decided to call her Snugglebug as a nickname. Maggie has the cutest face and the prettiest sky blue eyes. I wonder what she’ll look like when she gets to be older. Dylan and Gracie both have blond hair, but Dylan’s is straight and Gracie has curls; and Dylan has blue eyes while Gracie’s are green, so it’s hard to say for sure. Dylan is 5. What a big boy! Gracie is a toddler of 2, and Maggie is almost 2 months old. I ‘m lucky to be blessed with 3 wonderful cousins!

For Christmas we got Super Mario Brothers for the Wii.  It had been a long time since I had played a traditional 2d platform scroller and I wondered how I’d like it.   I have to say it’s been REALLY fun playing it, both playing through it by myself and playing with the kids.  One thing that is really nice about it is that you can play up to 4 players, which means I can play with all 3 girls at the same time.  Another thing that is unique about it is that you can add and drop players as you go - very nice.  Playing 4 player is fun, but it’s definitely not the most effective strategy for making fast progress!

Anyways, if you’re thinking about Super Mario Brothers for the Wii, our family gives it the thumbs up!  Of the 4 player games we have:

• Mario Kart
• Raving Rabbids
• Mario Party 8
• Super Mario Brothers

Super Mario Brothers and Mario Kart are definitely the best.

Everyone knows the holidays are a fun time to enjoy each other and be nice and good and kind. Here are some ideas to make your holiday pure paradise:

Gifts

Many holidays involve giving presents and gifts. How do you find a perfect gift for everyone? Make a list of gifts that a person you know would like. Some people are harder to get ideas for than others. So, when you see that person talking about something they don’t have but would love (”Darn! My label machine broke!” “I only need one more Transformer to complete the collection!” “What a pretty doll!” “Everyone has a good refrigerator but me!” “It would be so nice to have Oprah Magazine!”) it’s your chance to write it down and order away. But what if that person has more than one idea but you can only get one present? Well, listen to the person talking. You can find the best gift. (”I wish I had a jewlery box. (pause) “Why just look at my sweater! I want a prettier one!”) The more dramatic and wishful the conversation gets, the better you know what the person wants.

Time

Nobody has enough holiday time for everything they would like to do. So do some research about the options. Hear the family’s point of view. (”I want to see the Empire State Building.” “No! I want to go to the Children’s Museum!” “The Children’s Museum is not age appropriate for everyone. Wouldn’t you rather see the Empire State Building?” “American Girl Place is having a huge sale. And the first one hundred get a free gift bag.” “Yeah! Gift bag!” “I want to get a gift bag!”) And you’re done.

Have a happy Holiday!

October was a great month- I’m sure everyone thought it was a great one too! In the beginning of the month I was just finishing up computer class. It was kind of fun but I’m glad for a change in the morning. Around that time Green and Black came and we had many adventures (check out-”A Real Castle“). Soon that time ended a while. Daddy went marching off to Oregon to see Emily and Anna and to attend Lantz’s wedding. We missed him, but Emily and Anna had fun and besides who doesn’t like seeing a twelve foot long fish??? He came back to us of course. Soon came the Fall Social (which I attended and had fun at). I was a hippie and Grace was an old lady. She dyed her brown hair gray and wore one of those dresses and a shawl. She had stockings and Mary Janes on her feet! We had lots of fun. Just one day later it was Halloween. I dressed up as Mary Ingalls from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books. Caroline of course was Laura. Katherine, being the youngest, just HAD to be Carrie! We all wore our pioneer dresses courtesy of Gammy. It was a great month.

~

Today my family and Green and Black went to a real castle.  It was huge and beautiful and crazy.  The walls are made of stone and the inside has a million pretty old-fashioned things inside.  There were mosaics and four-poster beds and a huge organ and a giant pool.  It was unbelievably extravagant and beautiful.  And why is the castle crazy? you might ask.  It’s crazy because the stairs are all spirally and steep and you could die if you fell off.  Anyway, the garden is bee-you-tee-full and has a real moat and lovely flowers.  I loved seeing a real castle.

You’re lucky if you have siblings because some people don’t. I personally think that it’s better being in the middle because you have someone looking up to you and someone to look up to. I am in the middle and I feel very thankful for it. I have Natalie and Katherine to thank, so thanks you guys. I love my family! I LOVE YOU MARTIN FAMILY!

I’m making a lot of progress in school. First of all, I am typing this post correctly! I learned this from sites reccomended by the lovely Ms. Steiner, who also reminds me constantly! I also know factor rainbows. Just ask Mrs. Rekemeyer how! She has a very good way of teaching math. Mrs. Rekemeyer waits for you but not too long. That’s how she makes sure you’re listening AND learning. We watched a very good video about pioneer trains. Miss Walsh is a biggie on games. She has good social studies games. Mrs. Gablaski has REALLY fun games that 7th graders play, not only 5th! In reading we are learning about nonfiction text features, which I learned about in 2nd, 3rd, AND 4th grade but I like Miss Walsh’s techniques QUITE a bit. I like most things in school.

School is  NOT meant to be the least bit fun! It isn’t to be not fun, either. It’s to learn, academically, socially, artistically, physically, and emotionally, and to improve your thinking skills, too. And thinking of thinking skills, school IS supposed to be fun. It is fun if you try your best to be responsible and be cheerful. But work comes first. That brings you back to being responsible. If you are responsible your teachers will be proud of you. They will give you good grades and recess will be enjoyable. You can choose the ending: 1) Being responsible about your work or 2) Being unresponsible about it. Here’s what happens if you choose 1: You have a great recess, laughing with your friends and swinging from a branch. You aren’t worried about getting bad grades because you won’t get them. Just happy. If you chose 2, this may be what happened: You are trying so hard to have fun and forget your bad grades, but you feel a terrible feeling inside. Your friends are laughing and happy. You are worried. Another scenario could be that you don’t care, but on the inside you don’t like that. Only good can come from being responsible. I learned that lesson the hard way. The message is very clear: Try hard to remember and don’t forget!

Today was my third day of middle school. It’s fun there, but a lot of work. In the morning, I go to computer class with Ms. Steiner. I have my very own computer. I know most of the things she’s teaching us because my dad is an engineer. Then I go to Academic Encounters to learn about social studies: my favorite. And Ms. Gablaski is very nice, too. Then, I go back to my homeroom or Miss Walsh’s for normal social studies, reading, math, or science. We haven’t much of that yet, I mean of actually learning those things and not spending the time getting organized or meeting new people. But you can never have a friend too many, or be too organized, so I like that. And I can’t wait to learn new things also. Then we have one more subject and then lunch. Lunch isn’t very fun at the No Nuts Table,  but if you have a friend as good as mine (thanks, Grace) you never should worry about being bored and alone. On Day 3 only you have BCO. I’m in chorus with Grace, Katey, Marie and Trishina who are all very nice. But otherwise it’s one main subject and then the next and then homework writing and then I can giggle all the way home with Alana and sometimes Emma. I like it there at middle school. It’s fun but there’s also a lot of work.