Thanksgiving

~Posted by Josiah

This past Thanksgiving, we had family come visit us in Oklahoma. My Bia and Bio, and my Uncle and Aunt and cousins all flew in from Ohio on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and they stayed until Saturday! We had plenty of time to spend with them. So us kids and our cousins got to play all kinds of games together, build a fort in the woods, practice for a Christmas play, and my 12-year-old cousin E and I ran from my 7-year-old cousin J when he and my Dad drove the giant John Deere tractor right in our direction!

Out of the way, everybody!

On Thanksgiving Day, we had a huge meal! We also did our tradition of writing some things we’re thankful for on little colored paper leaves, and then hanging them up on a big paper tree my sister Roma made.

We five siblings also sang some Thanksgiving Bible verses set to music, and then cousin E gave a speech about the theological error of eating fried chicken! (You kind of had to be there!) J

Our table set for many J

Lots to be thankful for!

Thankful tree filling up with leaves

On Friday, our friends the B’s drove up from Texas to spend the day with us. Their two boys, the two cousins, and we five kids all played one BIG game of hide-and-go-seek. The grown-ups visited, drank hot chocolate, played board games, and put together a big puzzle.

Saturday morning we ate donuts and watched some of the Ohio State vs. Michigan game. At lunchtime, we drove our relatives back to the airport to catch their flight home. It was hard to see them go, but we’re not sad because we’re going to see them again at Christmas! We can hardly wait!

Our airport goodbyes…for now!

My Belt Test

~ posted by Josiah

Recently I took my 5^th Gup Blue belt test for Tae Kwon Do. I tested with 9 other kids. The first thing we did was kicks and punches. I know one punch and 19 kicks.

Then came blocks and stances. I know 10 blocks, and I also know four stances. Next we did forms. The ones I know are : kebon-one, chonji, tan-gun, peon one, wonhyo, and peon four. Now I am working on a form named yol-guk.

After that we did self-defense. And then . . . sparring!!!!! I sparred twenty-seven rounds. :-O One of my last rounds was a four-on-one!

It was a great test! All in all, I tested for about 4 hours. It was my last test with Maxwell’s Tae Kwon Do (well . . . maybe!) So I finished well.

Blue Belt Test

~ Posted by Josiah

 

About a week ago, I took my 6^th gup blue belt test for Tae Kwon Do. This was my goal for 2014. So now, I am halfway to 1^st degree black. J

 

The first part of the test was kicks.

I’m on the right in this photo doing a kick.

 

There are 14 different kinds of kicks that I did. After that, we did blocks and stances. There are 4 stances and 12 blocks.

Doing a block.

 

Next we did forms. I know 5 forms. Their names were: Kebon-1, Chonji, Tan-Gun, Peon-1, and Won-Hyo. Then we went over our vocabulary, starting all the way back from Gold Belt.

 

Next came self-defense. We had to escape from a front-choke, wrist-grab, headlock, back-choke, bear hug, and full nelson. Then came one-steps. These included two basics and three advanced. Finally, we got to the sparring!!!!

 

Sparring “Biggy.” J

We sparred a lot of rounds. I even sparred two at once!

 

I enjoyed the test (well . . . kind of. It was a good one most of the time.) The tests usually end at about 10:45 p.m., but this one ended before 9:00 p.m. That gave my family and me time to go out for ice cream afterward! J

 

I love Tae-Kwon-Do, and am working hard for the next belt!

After the belt test with my blue belt!

 

 

 

 

 

Jaguars

~Posted by Josiah

 

Hello! I hope you will like this post! I was wanting to talk about Jaguars. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. J

 

About it: The Jaguar is the third largest wildcat in the world! Jaguars also have the strongest jaws and teeth of all cats.

 

Hunter: Jaguars hunt everything from fish and lizards, to birds and small alligators!!!!!!!! They really like fish. J Jaguars’ strong jaws pierce the skulls of their larger victims.

 

I hope you liked the post! I’m excited to do the next one!

Gators and Crocs

~Posted by Josiah

This week I am going to have two parts, alligators and then crocodiles. But first I am going to answer a question some people may have, and that is what’s the difference between the two? One difference is gators have a round snout, and crocs have more of a pointed snout. Now I’ll talk a little bit about both of them:

Crocodiles

About it: Many rivers and lakes of Africa are home to this large reptile: the crocodile! Crocodiles stay on the riverbank in the warm sun. Hunter crocs float near the top of the water, waiting for an unlucky animal to walk by. They strike quickly with their strong jaws and sharp teeth.

Alligators

There are a couple different kinds of alligators: one, the Caimen, is very rare because it is hunted for its skin. American alligators have very strong jaws that can break cattle bones, but if the mouth is shut, an adult human could hold it shut. (But that does not mean you should go around trying to hold alligators’ mouths shut!)

I hope y’all liked my post. I can’t wait to do another!

Ritz Pizza Bites

~ posted by Josiah

Recently I tried a new thing. I decided to try and make Ritz Pizza Bites as an experiment.

The ingredients are to serve 4.

Ritz Pizza Bites

4 Ritz crackers

5 Tablespoons of cheese (works best with parmesan)

4 pepperoni’s

Put crackers on a small plate.

Then get the cheese and sprinkle it on the crackers.

Then get the pepperoni’s and put one on each cracker.

You will need to microwave it for 10 seconds, but I always do 5 seconds then 5 more, because if you do it 10 without a break it will fizz. I hope you like them. I can’t wait to do another post soon!

The Good Inside Animals

~ posted by Josiah

This week I was going to talk about the good things about some animals that people might think are pests. I’m going to talk about 2 animals.

#1 Coyotes

Coyotes sometimes will live close to cattle and sheep ranches. But coyotes do a lot to help ranchers.

The coyotes will eat some farm animals, but they will also eat rodents and grasshoppers that eat crops and carry diseases.

But still people trap and kill coyotes. But coyotes can be good. When people hunt and kill them, more grasshoppers will come in and eat the grain that is meant for the cattle in winter. So in a way coyotes can be very good for farms.

#2 Grizzly Bears (the Silvertip of North-America)

Grizzly bears are becoming endangered, so there are some people who are trying to protect them. Right now they are not on the hunting list. But some other people are trying to get them back on the hunting list because they don’t like them.

But grizzly bears are good because they are scavengers, which means they eat dead animals that might carry diseases.

So animals that may seem like pests can also be really good. I hope y’all like my post and I can’t wait to do another one soon!

Orange Belt Test

~Posted by Josiah

In December I took an orange belt test. It was in my Tae-Kwon-Do class. The order of the belts are 10 white, 10 gold, 9 orange, 8 green, 7 green, 6 blue, 5 blue, 4 purple, 3 brown, 2 brown, 1 brown, 1 black, 2 black, 3 black, 4 black, 5 black, 6 black, 7 black, 8 black, 9 black, and 10 black.

Getting ready for the belt test.

I had to do 5 kicks, 1 punch, 4 blocks, 6 sparring rounds, and 2 forms (a form is a lot of moves put together.)

Starting the kicks and punches.

Chambering the kick.

We got to pick someone to spar each time. I sparred against 2 4^th level black belts, a brown belt, 2 1^st level black, and a 10 gold belt (that was boring, and I did not pick her!) I had to stay there from 6:30 p.m.-11:00 p.m.

Sparring Mr. B.

I enjoyed the belt test and am working hard for the next belt!

Josiah's Belt Test

Last Friday night, Josiah had a belt test in Tae-Kwon-Do. This was his second one, but I had missed his first one (I was in Guatemala.) So it was a new experience for me!

The test ended up being 5 hours long! They tested all the belt levels for his studio. It was pretty incredible to watch. I was so proud of Josiah!

His teacher praised him several times for his fierce attitude during the test.

They did a lot of different things including board breaking, getting out of holds, etc. But the highlight of the evening for everyone was the sparring.

We had a great time talking together afterwards.

Receiving his paper and orange belt at the end!

Josiah has really enjoyed doing Tae-Kwon-Do this year, and it’s great as his sibling to see him doing so well! J We’re so proud of our not-so-little guy!

Festival

~Posted by Josiah

Every year there is a festival in our town when about 15,000-20,000 people come (and only about 4000 live in our town.) This was our first year. We went early so Ben, Roma, and Rubia could run their race. Unfortunately Bianca missed it ‘cause she had to go to the Rad Dog Road Trip.

The moon was still out when we arrived!

Photo Credit: Betsy

Dad went to pick up Ben, Roma, and Rubia while Mom stayed with me for my Tae-Kwon-Do demo. It went well, and halfway through the others came back from their race.

Roma, after she finished her race.

Photo Credit: Mark

They did well, and the demo was fun too.

Getting ready for the demo.

Photo Credit: Betsy

The black belts’ first show.

Photo Credit: Betsy

Doing my part of the demo.

Photo Credit: Betsy

Then we went to the parade and got to see all kinds of fun things. There were big and little cars.

There were remote-controlled cars doing tricks.

This was my favorite car since I like Camaros. J

Then we went to the rides there and I did bumper cars and won a toy penguin at a shooting range.

I got to drive a bumper car!

Photo Credit: Betsy

I had fun shooting down the bottles.

Photo Credit: Betsy

Next we went to the shark slide and jungle bounce houses.

The shark slide was one of my favorites, because it was really fast!

Photo Credit: Betsy

I also had fun at the “Jungle Adventure,” sliding down the volcano.

Photo Credit: Betsy

We looked around some more and did some shopping. Then Dad wanted to look at cars at the car show.

Ben had fun posing next to his pretend-new-car. J

Photo Credit: Betsy

We had fun all day and we can’t wait till next year!

Josiah's Projects

When I go to upload Mom’s camera, I’m never quite sure what I’ll find on it. J Since we older kids have our own cameras, Josiah is the primary user of Mom’s little Canon point and shoot.

In the most recent batch of pictures, I was amazed at how busy my little brother is! I thought I would post some pictures from some of his most recent projects, most of them for school, and others just because he wants to!

While Mom, Dad, and the twins were at the Rangers game, Josiah and I did some cooking together! We made Salvadoran Pupusas. They were quite tasty, even though they weren’t completely authentic.

Josiah recently saved up for and purchased his first tomahawk. Safety conscious as he is, he patiently waited until Dad got home that evening to learn how to throw it. He is now on the lookout for any snakes that may need killing. J

As another school project, he made a volcano from clay, baking soda, and colored vinegar. I’m sorry that I missed the eruption!

Josiah and I have been doing a North American Folk Art curriculum together every other week. We learned about Native Americans and Josiah made this Indian totem pole!

Josiah has been on a “Lone Ranger” kick lately, and has watched quite a few of the old, black-and-white TV episodes on DVD. He decided to make his own mask.

He has also taken to building card structures. He’s gotten quite good at it!

Another cooking experiment with Bianca! (I can’t help it; it’s what I love! J) The weeks we don’t do his folk art curriculum, we cook from a book with recipes that correspond to a Bible story. After studying Daniel in the Lion’s Den, we made these Lion faces. They were a savory scone base made with cheese and decorated with olives. It was a hit afternoon snack!

And finally, he colored this picture and practiced his cursive by writing a Bible verse of encouragement. Then he went with Mom to take dinner over to our elderly neighbors. As you can see, he’s a busy boy! J