A Busy Week

My week started with pictures on Wednesday, 241 to be exact. We went to Cedar Hill State Park and Mom took tons of pictures of Josh and I in many different positions. We played on the playground, hiked to this little farm, and found an adorable bench on which I spent 20 minutes posing. Josh and I were pretty worn out by the end of the day.

My favorite picture of me. This is the cute bench I was talking about.

Then, on Thursday, Mom and I cooked and cooked a meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, carrots, green beans, gravy, rolls, and berry cobbler. It was all so good; we have a ton of left overs, though, especially with Dad being gone. To those who are concerned, he is safe from all the turmoil in Mumbai. He is pretty nervous, but his company will keep him safe. He said he was going to force himself to relax by ordering a massage from his fancy hotel☺! Anyway, when asked to say what he was thankful for, Josh said, "Turkey!"

We responded with, "But you don't like turkey, Josh!"

"I don't like turkey, but that doesn't mean I can't be thankful for it, " the five-year-old answered. Mom and I laughed and laughed.

Me cutting the turkey. Notice my awesome apron, made by my Sunday School teacher. She is so nice! Also notice my glasses. The only reason why I am wearing them is I ran out of contacts; my last pair tore when I tried to put them in. They're cute, my glasses, but since my prescription is so big, the lenses stick out of the frame about 1/2 cm.

Me dishing up my dinner. The gravy was sooooo good.

Wednesday evening, we went to a family friend's house and decorated gingerbread houses. I think mine is pretty cool. Josh had a blast, though didn't go overboard with the decorating like I thought he would.

The finished product. A Masterpiece!

On Friday, Mom and I pulled down Christmas from the attic. We did pretty well, but had to call a friend to pull down the tree and a couple of boxes that were too heavy for Mom and me to carry. We spent the day positioning all the knick-knacks and putting up lights on the bushes and trees. Since Mom wasn't willing to get the lights on the roof herself or have me do it (I am not afraid of heights and have seen Dad do it before, so I was ready to attack the lights!), we just threw the net lights over the front bushes. However, I was not satisfied, so I spent all evening decorating the little tree that we have in the flower bead. I twisted the string lights around the trunk and maneuvered lights through the branches. At last, after multiple cuts and scrapes, the tree looked as if it were glowing; my work was done. Now, all that Mom and I have to do is put up the tree and decorate it. Then, we can sleep well.

The beginning of Operation Glowing Tree. I haven't even put on a band-aid yet in this picture.

I'm Famous!

A family friend is a graphic designer. He drew the Indiana Jones Monopoly cover, the Star Wars III video game cover, etc. Well, his new assignment was to create an ad for a new adventure park in Tennessee. He took pictures of me pretending to be on a zipline, looking over a balcony, and pointing at someone. Then, using the photos as a guide, he drew me into the scene. Pretty good if you ask me. Yes, the pictures below are drawings, not photographs.

There I am up front! And if you click on the pic, you can see me two more times in the very back.
My mom also had the opportunity to model. She accepted reluctantly.

The other day, I applied for the Bobby Bragen Youth Foundation scholarship. I found out that my teacher picked me to go onto the school finals, where a boy and girl are chosen. Then, 32 out of 242 students are chosen to get the $2500 scholarship. We had to write an essay about our role model. I chose to write about my 6th grade teacher. He was really a great teacher and I had a hard time keeping to the 700 word limit.

Good Luck, Bad Luck!

I found a little handout that I thought I might share with you.

There is a Chinese story of a farmer who used an old horse to till his fields. One day, the horse escaped into the hills and when the farmer's neighbors sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?" A week later, the horse returned with a herd of horses from the hills and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was, "Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?"

Then, when the farmer's son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, the fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?" (Man, I would be very frustrated with the farmer)

Some weeks later, the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer's son with his broken leg, they let him off. Now was that good luck or bad luck?

Who knows?

Everything that seems on the surface to be an evil may be a good in disguise. And everything that seems to be good on the surface may really be an evil. Things may be more than they appear! Be careful and do not judge what is good fortune and misfortune.

TWILIGHT!

So I have read and loved the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I wanted to see how the movie turned out, so on Friday, Mom and I went out, leaving my brother with a babysitter. First of all, we got to the theatre an hour early and, since it was so packed and there were no other seats to be found, had to sit in the handicapped labeled chairs. We weren't kicked out, so I guess it was O.K. I believe the movie wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. They spent a bit too much time on Edward's face and the special effects were kind of cheesy, but that's what you get when you only have a year to make a movie. I also believed the makeup artists made the vampires' faces much too pale; the high school students would have to be pretty stupid not to notice the Cullens were different. Overall, though, they did a good job.

I am missing my dad (if I haven't mentioned before, he is in India). He's been gone for two weeks now and I'm sick of people asking me, "Are you O.K?", "It must be really hard,", "How is your Dad? Do you miss him?" All it does is remind me of him and I have to refrain myself from responding, "Do you want me to cry?" I'll get over it. Plus, he'll be back before I know it.

Bad News, More Bad News, and a Thank You

Well, the results are in...(drum roll, please) my group did not place in the Winston Science competition. The thing is that the officials didn't even say if we got the solution right or if we just didn't explain ourselves enough. Oh well, better luck next time. I wish we knew how we did though.

On another note, athletics is shut down at school. A.K.A., no more P.E. Why this horrible tragedy? Well, the 500 students in athletics (7th and 8th grade, boys and girls) are failing a total of 740 classes (still straight A's for me). I am disappointed because unlike most who do well in sports and need help in academics, I am vice versa. I need the athletics, but am denied. Instead of helping our bodies to function and become healthier, we are enjoying a 1 hour and 30 minutes of Study Hall, a wonderful thing with no talking or comfort, just reading, doing homework, and secretly sleeping on the hard gym floor. I like the reading for so long, but I need the workout! Plus, the floor is making me stiff. This is supposed to last for three weeks, but we'll see.

Another thank you to Allie! I have had so many compliments on the bubble wrap. It was all your idea! Thank you! If you have any ideas that will make Be Happy happier, just comment and I will see what I can do.

Madi, CSI Agent

Last Sunday, a couple of friends and I participated in this huge science competition. In the competition there are many events: rocket building, root beer brewing, catapulting, cardboard armor, etc. Well, my group participated in the forensics competition. Together, we solved a robbery and murder in an hour and ten minutes. It was a lot of fun; we are awaiting the response to whether we reached the correct solution and if we won. We did very well, and took some pictures. Some are a bit fuzzy since I am a bad picture taker.

A table was laid out that had all kinds of things that we would need to solve the crime.

Fingerprints were hanging on the wall so all could see.

A ton of people showed up. Some groups were just arriving when we turned in our solution.

A suspicious boarding pass from the suspect's house is posted.

Madi, the Great Pinball Champion

A couple days ago, my family and I went bowling with some friends at Alleycats. I love that place; we played a game of mowling, played laser tag, and tried some arcade games. I didn't do to well in bowling (I got 76 points with the bumpers), got 3rd place out of four players in laser tag, but did well in the arcade. First, I had a comeback from a 4-0 loss in air hockey, only to lose 7-6. Then I placed in the Need4Speed Underground game after totally flipping my car at 150 mph. Next, it happened: I started playing pinball and couldn't stop. I scored 15,678,940 points in one game. My friend tried next and only got 9 mil. Yes! I am actually really good at something I didn't think I was.

So you see the pin down in the background. Guess what? I miss it!

Trying out pinball for the first time. I actually had a crowd gathered around me.

Skippin School

Yes, I did skip school, but it was my dad who wanted me to, so is that considered skipping? Well, my dad and I drove to Houston yesterday morning so that he could pick up his visa to go to India. He is leaving on the 10th and will not return until January on work business. Anyway, we had a great time walking the trails in Memorial Park, reading in the warm 90 degree weather, going through the Japanese garden, and visiting the different parks. It was a fun day, especially since I spent it with my dad.

Sam Houston!!!!

Me sitting on a miniature Washington Monument. How cool! I actually visited a momument of a monument!!

The squirels in Houston were very fat. We couldn't resist taking a picture of one. He actually posed for us, while another ate right out of a kid's hand.

Yes! We filled up for under $2 on our way!

I hate to admit it, but I think I am catching my first cold of the season. Darn, starting out bad already. My allergies are bad, I'm coughing like crazy, and I have a bad headache. I'll try to toughen out though!