Driving Lessons and Babysitting by Madeleine

In this year's batch of Christmas cards, we received more than one request to update our blog. Elise has done her part, but I think a real person should also write something. It was a great Christmas, stuffed with Chinese food and presents. I got a camera, so I will try to put some of my lovely pictures on for ya'll to see. I have a video of me playing at a recital that I will hopefully get around to posting. One of our donors gave us a printer/scanner, a home computer, and a Mac laptop for Christmas so that we would not all be sharing one laptop. It has opened up new opportunities and we spend more time on the computer now than before (but that's really not saying much).
I turned fourteen in the beginning of December, so Daddy decided to take me and my across-the-hall friend Claire driving in empty parking lots more often. I backed out of a parking space yesterday for the first time in my life. I don't know how many of you over sixteen remember what your first time driving was like, but to those youngsters who have never driven, I will say that it is pretty terrifying (it's even worse when your friend who is even less experienced than you, if that's possible, is driving). We both hit the curb fairly often, frequently confused the gas and brake pedals, and sometimes turned on the windshield wipers instead of changing gears. To add to the stress, my dad enjoyed remarking about the imaginary Mercedes-Benz that I just totaled or the little old lady with a walker that I just ran over. But we still enjoyed it a lot (that is, Claire and I did-- I'm not sure about my dad).
Elise and I are babysitting a lot these days, and if we are any good at all, it is because all our former babysitters were so amazing. I sure hope my babysittees remember me the same way that all four of us remember our babysitters. I have realized that it is very easy to please small children--they are amazingly excited when I bring picture books from my house and love it when I play with them (that takes more skill than reading books, but it can be more fun--and tiring). That's all from me, I'll blog again next week.

Elise's Holiday

Hellooooooooo everyone!
Hope you had a good Christmas! I definitely did. I got lots of really fun stuff. Right now I'm trying out scratchboarding and sand art (all Christmas presents) and some paint-by-number. Also, I went to a four day running camp which started the day after Christmas. It was really fun, except for the fact that there was only one other seventh grader and he was a boy. Thankfully, even though everyone else in the camp were teenagers, I could keep up most of the time. After our daily run we would play Family Feud! Sort of a random game, I thought. (I had actually never heard of it until then.) Anyways, our team had to guess five types of facial hair, and by the time it was my turn, our team had two strikes and only one answer left! I couldn't think of anything (all the obvious ones like beard, sideburns, goatee, and mustache had already been said) and I was running out of time, so I said "fu man chu," just as a joke. It was the real answer!! :o That was my name for the rest of the camp. I guess it's my Chinese blood or something! The camp was lots of fun and they had really yummy lunches. I didn't get to know anyone really well, but it was still a neat experience!
Tinkertytonk:),
A lizard breath
(if you say it quickly, it sounds like Elizabeth)