Amelia

 Well Amelia's school year is going like crap (that's the nice version of what I think its going). Her computer has worked one day out of the last 5. She literally lays on the ground and throws a fit about school work, her computer or anything related to school. She was nervous about starting the year off at a new school with new kids so throw that on top and you have a childhood trauma event that we are reliving every day there is school. I am trying really really hard to help her thru this. Last spring she threw fits after she had to do work from school. Anything new or challenging made her scream and cry. She is now doing the same thing. For every assignment she completes she cries for at least 15 minutes, either before, during, after or a combination of all three. At home learning is a joke for her.  She needs in person interaction. She needs other kids to play with. She needs a place where other adults can help her. She needs a place where she can be helpful to others. 

2020-2021 School Year

First day of school 2020-2021. Let's see... the boys have sat thru the same power point presentation in all of their classes. Basically going over how to click on a Zoom link to get them to class (note they clicked on a Zoom link already to get them to the class to watch the presentation on how to click on a Zoom link.) or how to email a teacher. Jack got to help his technology teacher out by showing how to toggle between a video and his screen. 

Amelia hates her Zoom class meetings each day. She hates sitting there listening to a tiny head on the screen talk with her. Today her computer did not work right so we was like 15 minutes late to the class meeting. She then was so upset she had to use the our personnel computer she wouldn't even sit at the computer. Now she is laying on her floor crying because she doesn't want to complete the work on the computer. 

Online school sucks. It is not good. It is a joke to think this is ok for kids at all.

 

Jack's Summer Journal

 Date: 6/1/20

Gratitude List: I am da grateful for my new gun in zombie rush because I had to kill about 100 zombies to get it.

Prayer: Dear god, Please let me get the new gun in zombie rush today.

I am very proud because… I got a new gun in zombie rush. The gun is super cool it has a purple barrel and a crom body. It took me twenty minutes to get witch is long to me.

Date:6/10/20

Gratitude List: I am grateful for silver wood staying open because we are going tomorrow.

Prayer: dear god thank you for skipper since he is so cute and playful.

What is your favorite room in your home and why? My favorite room is the house is the living room. I think it’s the best since it has the Xbox that I play games on. The fire place because it keeps me warm in the winter. Finally, because it’s where my family sits and we all watch tv together.

Date: 6/24/20

Gratitude List: I am grateful for my loving family and my new Lego set

Prayer: Dear god, thank you for my new Lego set and my loving family

What is your favorite time of day? My favorite time of day is morning because it is when I get the most screen time. Another reason is it is when I get the whole down stairs to myself. There is no sound silence and that’s hard to get these days. 

Date: 6/25/20

Gratitude List: I am grateful for skipper being super good on are walk

Prayer: thank you god, for skipper, two rivers, and that pool that I can’t remember the name of oh yah Hermiston pool.

Describe your best day ever? My best day ever was when I woke up to mom and dad taking us to Disney land. It was about 4:00 am and I woke up as usual but then I heard the blow drier and I was like but dad doesn’t have any hair so I got up any way and went to dads bath room to see my mom and now I am really confused then mom said get dressed and go down stairs and that’s where I learn that we were going to Disney land. 

Date: 6/29/20

Gratitude List: I am grateful for, bill gates, mike birthday, and amazon.

Prayer: Dear God please help Mike have a good B day.

What is your favorite song and why? My favorite song is “I’m a Banana.” It is a funny song. It can get girls to flip me off, that’s funny. It can also get girls to say I like your moves.

Date: 6/30/20

Gratitude List: I am grateful for mom taking us to get white man fire works and the 4 of July.

Prayer: thank you god for everything that I have.

I want to be a gangster when I grow up. Then I will…. Ride the rails illegally. Next I will beg on the streets. Finally, I will rob banks and mug people walking by.

Date:7/15/20

Gratitude List: I am grateful for Jacob, mom, dad, robin, skipper, tater tot, and princess.

Prayer: thank you god for Minecraft, Roblox, and YouTube.

I wish I could go to Disney world because…. one it’s a no brainer I mean who would not what to go. Two, I have been to Disney land, but I have never gone to Disney world. Three, you can swim with sharks and that’s cool right.    

Date: 7/17/20

Gratitude List: I am thankful for tiny tanks, mad city, and death run.

Prayer: thank you god for tiny tanks, md city, and death run

Older people are… are wiser because they have had more experience. They also been alive longer, so they see more stuff. Finally, they have been in more fights, so they know how to defend in more ways.

 

Date: 7/20/20

Gratitude List: I am thankful for tubing with Sam, Sawyer, Kris, Mark, and today hopefully oldie.

Prayer: thank you god for Mrs. Stephanie for her kind family and their boat.

Younger people are… dumber because we have less experience then old people. Also, they have done more stupid things than smart. Finally, they have been in less fights, so they don’t know how defend them self.

Jacob's Summer Journal

 

Date: 6/5/2020

Gratitude List: I am thankful for skipper and how he walked well on our walk today.

Prayer: Dear god thank for our blessings, watch over us as we go to Silverwood in 6 days and make Silverwood come sooner.

Name one thing you do well: One thing I am good at is baseball. I am good baseball because I can hit far, when I do hit the ball which is very hard. Another thing I am good at in baseball is left field and when the ball comes to me I will catch it. Finally, the last I am good at is supporting my team, I yell at them to hit the ball with a funny nickname.

Date:6/8/2020

Gratitude List: I am grateful for my house and that it keeps me dry.

Prayer: dear god thank you for our blessing. Thank you for my bed and that it is warm at night. Finally, help my mom learn how to become a better mom.

What is your favorite room in your home and why: My favorite room in my house is my room. I like my room the most because its my quite space and I can watch YouTube there. The other reason I like my room is I sleep there, and I love sleep. Finally, I love my room because it is a good storage space for my toys.

Date: 6/9/2020

Gratitude List: I am grateful for getting the stupid piece of bacon out of my teeth.

Prayer: dear god thank you for our blessings thank you for skipper and his new toys. Thank you for screen time each day.

Describe what it means to be a good neighbor: What it means to be a good neighbor is to be kind to everyone. You can pray for them when they need it most. You can help them out by getting their mail, mowing their lawn, and just helping them. Finally you can make them a cake or other types of food. But most of all is that everyone is your neighbor, from next door to the other side of the world.

Date: 7/8/2020

Gratitude List: I am thankful for my mom because she is the best mom.

Prayer: dear god thank you for my blessings thank you for mom and how she takes care of skipper.

Older people are ok. Older people are ok because sometimes they can be mean or sometimes they cane be good. One example of this is my mom because she makes me type every week day. But she is a good mom.

 

date: 7/9/2020

Gratitude List: I am thankful for Josh and Beth coming over.

Prayer: dear god thank you for our blessings thank you for skipper and let Josh and Beth have safe travels.

Younger people are the best. Younger people are the best because they are cool and funny. One example of this is Jack because he can sometimes be funny. Amelia is cool because she dose not annoy me.

 

Date: 7/20/2020

Gratitude List: I am grateful for tubing with Sam and Sawyer. 

Prayer: dear god please let Umma and Uppa have safe travels.

The perfect place in the whole wide world is at home. This is because my family is at home. Also, that is where my money is and my phone. Another reason I like home is because I have good neighbors.

Amelia's Summer Journal

Part of the kids' summer work this summer was a journal. Here are some highlights of Amelia's that I enjoyed.

8/5/2020

Gratitude List: the earth, art and good people

Prayer: Dear God please make a lot of people happy.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

At my house. I have a lot of friends. It is really good weather. I have nice neighbors. 

8/4/2020

Gratitude List: life on earth and school

Prayer: Dear God please help me get Prodigy

If you could give any gift in the world, what would you give and to whom?

I would give them a Nintendo Switch. I would send it to Trevor. 

7/10/2020

Gratitude List: food and water

Prayer: Dear God please make Jack's doctor be nice

The house was so quiet, but then I heard....

I heard a scratching. It sounded like something was trapped. We opened every door in the house. We opened the last door........... It was MY CAT!

7/11/2020

Gratitude List: my bed and toys

Prayer: Dear God please make Skipper have a good sleep.

If you could have been someone in history, who would you have been?

I would have been.... Jesus!  I want to show people how good God is. I want to teach people about God. I want to heal people. 

6/9/2020

Gratitude List: my mom and dad

Describe what it means to be a good neighbor.

First to be a good neighbor is to be friends. Second you invite them over. Third you talk to them a lot.  That is how to be a good neighbor.

Summer Trip

 We did a week long vacation in two parts, well three for the kids. 

Part 1: The kids got picked up by Umma and Uppa for a week of fun with them. The boys went backpacking.  Amelia just hangout with Umma. 

Part 2: Dan, Moana and I showed up on Sunday night for the next part of the trip. We headed out to Ocean Shores to stay in Linda's beach house. It was a nice time. The weather was sunny with a slow breeze. We played on the beach, played board games (a Christmas present from Grandma Linda we got then), drew pictures and watched movies.  One day we went miniature golfing and go-karting. All the usual fun of a beach trip. On unusual thing about the trip was there was a dead whale right on the beach in front of Linda's house. Boy could you smell it when you walked down! But once we moved down the beach a bit the wind took the smell away. The tide would wash all the intestines and chucks of whale all up and down the beach. Gross but cool.

Part 3:

Once we got back from the ocean we did wash, got some more groceries and packed back up for a camping weekend at Holly. Umma, Uppa, Shannon, Gary and Josh's family was there. We had great weather. The kids went kayaking and swimming. This year Uppa brought his 4 wheeler up so the boys took turns riding on that. Gary brought his side by side to ride in so we all got trips in that. I think the kids ate chips and cookies the whole weekend so of course they enjoyed that. 

*** Because Jacob wanted to bring his go-kart to ride at Holly we rented a small tow behind trailer to haul it with. Jacob didn't end up riding it much but it gave  him and Uppa something to work on the week he was there. The trailer worked out great to pack things in so we had plenty of room. And because we had the trailer we invited Moana to come along since we now had an extra seat. When I got to Umma's the kids were excited to see her and Skipper.

Backpacking - Jacob and Jack

 

The boys got their first experience backpacking this summer. Uppa and Umma came and picked up all the kids but just the boys and Uppa went hiking with Josh's family. They did an easy hike into a campground that had the road washed out. All went well expect that Jack and Burton's tent didn't have a rain fly so when it rained that night they got soaked! Also Jack and Jacob's packs were heavy, 20 lbs or so, and Jacob's pack didn't fit right. Despite the challenges they had fun.