Connor's Birthday

If the title didn't explain that already, this post is about my birthday. If that sentence didn't explain it to you, this is Connor speaking. It looks from the picture like my birthday was one huge Nerf fight. This is not the case. In reality, The greater portion of my birthday was watching The Avengers. We didn't take any pictures of that for reasons unknown (although I can think of some potential ones if necessary). There were numerous people invited, as the picture above suggests. Although this birthday party was fun, it will be my last.

This is the enormous pizza. 28"s squared of pizza divided among ten some boys. we had more leftovers than I thought. I think it might be because I didn't get the word out that dinner would be provided.

In the above picture, I am starring off into space. While it looks like I am thinking some philosophical thought when I do this, that is only true 50% of the time.

This cake was green on the inside, giving it the nickname the hulk cake (since we were watching the Avengers). In case you were wondering what Alan, the person on the right, was singing, he was singing the sad birthday song. I will not put the lyrics here since they do not do it justice.

(note from mom)  Ahhhh, something worth smiling for....Thanks Jared for the awesome dart gun and to others for gift cards,  especially on a 'no gift party', your gift is thoughtful!   (He actually said this...."I will smile for this one mom, it's something worth smiling for!)

Book Group-- The Witch of Blackbird Pond

We absolutely loved this book!!!!   It was a bit "draggish" at the beginning, but for my reluctant crew this was an engaging book.  I didn't have to bribe, conjole, threaten or beat them into coming for read aloud time.
We talked much about judging people....and the how hurtful and wrong it is.  We found a story from the Friend to share about this topic during Family Home Evening.  This book is a historical fiction.  Jen had the kids do some research about certain topics mentioned in the book.  Connor did research about the English Civil War...
        King Charles I, a strong believer in an idea called the divine right of kings, was abusing his power as king of England. What is the divine right of kings? It is the belief that kings, being appointed of God, cannot be wrong in any way. Charles got this belief from his father, King James, who had outraged parliament on numerous occasions. The final act that started the war was when Charles tried to assassinate five members of parliament. After failing, his failure being due to the parliament members having been warned, he fled to build an army as parliament gathered theirs. The aftermath of the war was that king Charles was executed, although no further progress to ending kings was made. Why was it right for parliament to attack with guns? To begin with, they had been attacked first. King Charles tried to assassinate various members of parliament. He then began putting an army together. Parliament began constructing their army as well. After several battles that held no decisive results, Parliament formed the new model army. The biggest difference between the new model army and the army of King Charles that the new model army had leaders who were promoted because of their ability to lead, not because of their money or social status. It was also meant to have speedy strikes which relied heavily on cavalry. The English Civil War lasted from 1641 to 1645, ending with parliament's victory and the execution of King Charles.

Ryan's was on the Salem Witch Trials:
The Salem Witch Trials began in Salem village during the winter months of 1692. It all started with Betty Paris,age 9, and her cousin Abigail Williams, age 11, who were the daughter and niece of Reverend Paris respectively. They started having fits beyond elliptical fit or natural disease according to John, the minister of a nearby town. Rev. Deodat said the girls screamed, threw things around, made weird sounds, crawled under furniture, and contorted themselves into strange positions. The girls themselves said they were being pinched and pricked by needles. A doctor named William Greggs couldn't find any physical ailment, but there were other women in the town showing similar behaviors. A Mr. Lawson preached several times in the town church but was interrupted each time by outbursts from the afflicted. Historians believe that one of the major causes of the Salem Witch Trials was a family feud. This rivalry was between the Putnam and Porter families. The citizens of the town were in on the feud too. They would engage in heated arguments, which would sometimes become full blown fights all based solely on a person's opinion of the feud. The first three people to be arrested for witchcraft were Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba. The accusation was made by Ann Putnam Junior and is seen as evidence of this family feud being a cause. Sarah Good was a homeless beggar, who was known to beg for food and clothes from her neighbors. She was accused of witchcraft because of her appalling reputation. During her trial she was accused of rejecting the Puritan values of self-control and discipline because she chose to scorn children instead of leading them to salvation. Sarah Osborne rarely went to church. She was accused of witchcraft because people believed she only had her own self-interest in mind. She used to be a widow but had remarried to an indentured servant. The citizens of the town found it distasteful when she tried controlling her son's inheritance. Her son was from her first marriage. Tituba was a black slave, which of course made her a target for accusations. She was accused of attracting girls with bad stories from an evil book.    

Cailin researched about corn husking bees:
There is hardly anything I found so don't expect much.
    Corn Husking Bees were social gatherings where they would shuck tons of corn. It was followed by dancing, food, and games. That's it.

After reading about Kit, Judith and her mom, Rachel dipping candles I hoped that we, too, could dip candles....and we did.  I tried it with Cailin and Delaney a few years ago.   Here's photos from our fist go around in March 2009....


       



Ohhh, my have the grown.  This time we had better success.  I believe our first go around the wax remained too hot.  We learned that if the wax cooled a bit, it would stick to the wick better (yarn for us),  thus producing a fatter candle.

I don't think our candle would pass "quality control" in the 1700's be we sure had fun!!

Hannah Tupper, the witch in the book, had a sure fire way to solve all sadness and evils of the day....corn cake studded with blueberries and a kitten.  It must work, as these two look quite happy!

Happy Birthday Cailin!!!

Wow I look ridiculous...
So. My birthday. I turned 12 this year so it was great. I moved from Primary into Young Woman and went on my first temple trip only ten days after my birthday. It was a mom and dad year, so no party. We went to Ryan's for dinner...which was nice but the name is kinda odd to me. It was excellent, but the food was very filling so I didn't eat much and we were all out of there fairly quickly.
After that we went to Barns and Noble, my favorite store, and I purchased my copy of Erin Hunter's new series, Survivors, The Empty City, about some dogs after an earthquake shakes their city and all the longpaws, or people, vanish.
For my birthday present from Mom and Dad, I was given the last two Warriors books I didn't have yet, The Forgotten Warrior and The Last Hope. Both were fantastic of course.
After lingering around in the store, we headed home. It was a great evening.

Mom wants me to write about the temple trip now.
Well, the night before I stayed at the Mattson's house and they took me to the place where we would load the buses. I got up at about 3:30am and got dressed then all ready and we left. We arrived at about 4:30. Then we stood around a while, waiting for people to get here. When all the youth were in the parking lot, a prayer was said and we loaded the buses.
The drive was long and slow, but by 5 hours we arrived at the Washington DC Temple. I remember how tall I felt, looming over the little cars below. It was funny, honestly.
When we arrived, we were split up into groups. We  were first going to go to the Visitors Center, but then it was changed and we headed into the Temple. I headed with the others into the first part of the Temple and was struck by how tall the desk seemed to be. And it wasn't that the people behind it looked scary or anything....they just looked...too tall.
After the people at the tall desk got all the recommends in order and we were allowed to go in, we entered the Temple. We went in through the front doors, the front of the Temple. I remember how I felt a sudden peace fall over me. Like all my anxieties and fears were washed away. We saw the huge wall painting... mural, I think that's what its called. It was really cool. The people on the right hand of Christ were the good ones, on the left the ones who were wicked. You could see not only Book of Mormon and Pioneer dressed people, but people from our day, too. It was really amazing.
Then we headed down a stair case to the baptism font and I thought "It looks small" because it looked smaller than I'd always imagined it.
I did confirmations first, 5 of them. It was kind of weird to have it done multiple times when I was used to it only once.
I did 10 baptisms. I remember that there was one person who didn't have a last name, it was just Laura. Mikayla had one that was just Ruthie.
The water was warm. It was nice. There was a little screen that had the dead person's name on it and then there was a paper that said what to say, with blanks for the last name and the person who you were baptizing for.
After that we just read New Eras and then we headed outside. We then did a service project where we put up lights for the Christmas lights, which look amazing. I've seen them. But I really didn't like the project because I kept getting tangled up in the lights.
Then we headed back to the Visitors Center, to stay this time. We watched a 1 hour long movie on Joseph Smith and then went back to the buses. For dinner we stopped at a rest stop and ate pizza. That's it.

The Chestertown Running Festival...Yeah, we did it!

I think it was about May, when I mentioned to my dear sister in law that I have a goal --'one day, sometime in my future, I want  to run a 5K'.  I forgot that this dear sister in law LOVES to run.  She's run 5K's, 10K's, 1/2 marathons, and full marathons....what was I thinking?  In all honesty, I'm glad I did, as I doubt I would have made this running wish come forth from the deep recesses of my mind and make it really happen.    The day after my confession, she called to tell me that she has found the perfect race....in Chestertown MD.  It had a 5K and 1/2 marathon all in one.

So from there, I started training with the "Couch to 5K" running plan....and a few months later I did it!!! I ran

my first ever 5K race.  Connor joined me too.  In June sometime, he began working towards his fitness merit badge. We became running partners helping get each other out of bed for early morning training.  I cherish the time we had jogging together, and talking about all sorts of things.  I loved our time together on our trip and can't wait for another race to run....as I'm not going to stop!  Our next event will be the "Raleigh Rock" race in March.  I think we may even have another addition to our running team....we'll just have to wait and see if it works out!

Here's Connor on the last 2 tenths of the race.

 
.....so close to the finish line!    and one of me to prove I really was running.

 

Whew, what a fun finish!  Here with Nicole (Risa's friend) and Risa!  They completed  13.1 miles.  Connor has that as a goal for next year....I'm still running, I'm just not sure if it will be 13.1 miles by next year or not....we'll see!

The race was held in a beautiful town along the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.  I loved all the cute historic homes and ambiance of the area.  The whole weekend was great.  We traveled with Brian and Risa...and the ever so cute little boys, Logan and Brennan.  We stayed in a nice hotel in Dover Delaware, enjoyed the pool and hot tub- relaxing and getting ready for the big race.  Dinner was at a super yummy pizza place.  I loved the thick crunchy crust. On the way home we replenished at Cracker Barrel, mmmmmm, potato casserole for me, and southern fried chicken for Connor!  Yep, this was a great weekend.  For Connor and I, it was our "Christmas Coupon' activity.  Originally I gave him a ticket for a bike ride along the New River Trail and a hot dog or ice cream lunch.  I think this substitution will suffice.

I even got him to take a photo with me!

Hello everyone. As you will probably figure out soon enough, it's Connor speaking. To start with, Mom doesn't know if she's going to be running a half marathon in 1 year, but I do. She will. I'm going to drag her along whether she likes it or not. Anyway, in 6 months, I plan on running a 10-k. As hard as that will be, I intend to do it. By the time I go on my mission I hope to have run at least one marathon. A full one. I have little to say about the trip itself. I went, and  I ran 3.1 miles.

Wolf Creek Indian Village

For history we are back to the time period of 1600's- 1850's.   Learning about Indian culture is definitely something we want to do this year....so off we went to Wolf Creek Indian Village just a short 40 minutes away from home.   During the construction of I77,, in 1977, they discovered these Indian ruins.  After a state archaeological investigation they determined that this was an authentic ancient Indian site.  In 1996 a recreation of the site based on the records made by the archaeologist was made.  In 1998 the Wolf Creek Indian Village was open for visitors.  We had an enjoyable time learning about the culture and customs of people from this area.  The archeologist were never able to identify excatctly which tribe these people were from, so they showed what life was like for most of the Woodlands  or Algonquin tribes of this area.

a fire pit....and food storage.  They would string beans, sliced and dried squash and corn, still attached to the cob for use later.



They used a talking stick to control interruptions when people were talking....you were only allowed to talk if you had the talking stick in your hand.  Here the guide is allowing each child to ask a question or tell something new they learned.  Hummmm, maybe we'll have to adopt this tradition for family home evening, or any other time I want them to stop talking....ahhh, can you hear it, QUIET!

Below,  these are a representation of their homes.   The original site had the post holes still there so they were reconstructed exactly as they were years and years ago.

The group was broken into two....older kids and younger one.  Connor and Cailin enjoyed there time with the older kids.  Delaney, Liam and I went with the younger group.  As is always the case, Connor really did enjoy the trip, he's just bent on never smiling for a camera!!

Here they were given the opportunity to "drill hole", using he tools they would have used in the 1500's.  I think I'll stick with my Black and Decker.

Examining the stones used in the spears, which were used for hunting and proctection.

As was the custom, they were given the chance to have their face painted with a symbol.

Grinding corn for food or clay to make pots.

Our group.

Now the little Indians must be fed!