So recently I have been walking a dog for a neighbor across the street because their dog is always barking and never gets walked so I asked if I could walk her and they said yes that would be great! So about everyday I go over to the owners house around lunch time and walk the dog for them. 😊 I enjoy it very much! I even take off the owners leash and but on my Cesar Milan leash because that gives me more control over the dog and plus the owners leash is pretty loose on the dog anyways. 

The type of breed of the dog is a Boston Terrier. I noticed that Domino ( the Boston Terrier ) seemed smaller than the actual breed. And even has two different color eyes! One is blue and the other is brown. It looks cool. I don't love small dogs but I'm ok with them. I would much rather have a way bigger dog though.🙂 But I do like to know more about smaller breeds and I love walking dogs so it's a win win.  

It was easy walking Domino but she is interested in everything. But I say "tch" and tug on the leash for a sec so she knows that's something she can't do. And yesterday when I was walking her, she stayed right by me and never went in front or on the side of the road to smell something. 😃 I think she learned that I was leader and that she was a follower. I almost wanted to drop the leash because she was just trotting along and stayed by me and I didn't even need to tug once! I pretended I dropped the leash on her by putting a lot of it on her but she still stayed by me!! I was just so happy! I even handed the leash to Sophie! But after about 3 mins she started to go ahead of Sophie so I stepped in and got her back into her place. Sophie said " Jo how do you keep her behind you?? She goes in front of me when I have the leash! But not with you! " I just smiled at her. 😌 It's hard to explain things sometime. Which that time it was. 

And one time I was passing a house which had a front yard with a gate and there was a much bigger dog than Domino and that dog was going crazy, barking, whining, jumping up on the gate wanting to go to us. And then Domino started to act up and twirled and jumped. So I corrected her and she stopped! So whenever she put her ears up that meant she was alert and about to go into action. So I wanted to stop that from happening so I barley tugged at the leash for a sec and said, "tch". And if that didn't work I would use my leg and bump her on the side and what that does is distract her mind and look at what had touched her. So after that whenever she started to put her ears up in alertness I would do those things and she stopped and kept walking. And so I kept walking back and forth in front of the barking dog. And she now was calm and didn't care about the other dog. 

Sophie asked me " Joey why are you going towards the dog that's barking? You want Domino to go crazy?" And I said well yes and no. I do want Domino to go crazy so I can correct her. So then she learns that's something she doesn't need to get worked up about.  And in general I don't want her to go crazy. I wouldn't want any dog too about another dog. 

Domino was always making pig noises! Like snorting and stuff like that. So I searched it up and it's called a reverse sneeze. So it's basically a irritation in the dogs throat and it could be that they have allergies or just from eating food. And apparently it's not harmful thank goodness. I'm guessing it might be allergies because I also have allergies from the pollen and always sneeze and have runny noses. I'm probably so wrong though about that.😂

Meet Domino!!

So today I will be talking about this episode and I will write my notes that I took. And also explain how to do some of this stuff he shows in this video. 

First here is the video:

So Cesar Milan is in San Diego. And this husband and pregnant wife ( named Charlie and Shantel Limbo) needs help with their six month old German Shepherd named Malik. 

Here are the problems they have with this dog: 

1. Pulling on leash and wife scared that she will get pulled down to the ground one of these days while she is really pregnant. 

2. Doesn't have any boundaries set for the dog. So the dog would be all over the owners or eat food that the owners have on their plates. 

So Cesar met up with this couple at their house and discussed the problems with the dog. 

So he was going to fix the food problem first. ( which is eating the food off the people's plates and getting in their faces)

So first you would want to get a plate full of food and put it on the ground. Then call the dog to you and have him smell the food so he would want to straight away eat it. But when he gets super close to the food like he's going to eat it, you say " Tshh!" and touch him on the side of the neck so he backs away a bit. Then when he tries again you do the same thing. It's going to probably take a long time but just be patient. And have calm, confidence and love while doing it. The dog will also bark in protest and try to paw at it. But remember to be patient. And after a bit, he will know that that's something he can't have and surrender to the food. 

You can also try doing the same thing if he's trying to get into your face or something ( without the food of course). 

So Cesar fixed that problem and now wanted to fix the dog pulling problem. 

So Cesar and the couple went outside with the dog. And Cesar put on one of his training leash's and first walked the dog and showed the couple how to walk him. Then he gave the leash to the woman and she started to walk him. But the fear of the dog pulling her down came into her head and then the dog was getting ahead of her again. So Cesar told her not to worry and to have calm and confidence while walking the dog and always be ahead of the dog because if your not ahead of the dog, you are becoming the follower and not the leader. And the dog knows that he is the leader and not his owner and start pulling her around. So then she walked with calm and confidence and made sure that she was the leader and not the dog. And it was working!! She was so happy that she wasn't being pulled anymore and could walk her dog in peace. 

So what did we learn? Well we learned that we shouldn't let the dog walk ahead of us and think that he's the leader. And when we walk with calm and confidence what do we get? Well the dog responds with a different energy. He reacts with a calm energy. So if our energy is excitement, the dog will be excited. And that's not what we want. 

If our dog starts to bark in fear and whine at somebody, what would you do? Would you start to say " it's ok. " and start to give it pats and cuddle it? NO! You defiantly do not want to do that at all! It's like if you had a 8 year old child and he/she started to cry and whine at somebody because it's mad or something, would you give your child hugs and say it's ok when he/she is being naughty? You would give him/her discipline. And say that something we don't do around here. Same thing with a dog. If you had given the dog cuddles and love when he's being naughty your actually saying to your dog, " good boy for doing a bad thing!" And then the dog will realize if he keeps doing bad things he would be rewarded for it. And that's how you get bad behavior. 

So recently Sophie and I have been going across the street to a lady's house who has a dog that is fourteen years old! And in dog years that's about 98 years old!!!😐 And it's a big dog too! She thinks its part German Shepherd and mixed with something else. And the dog's name is Champ. 

So we know the lady because of our cousins and aunt. So awhile ago ( when we still lived in the other house ) our cousins and aunt visited us and they knew a lady who lived near by our street ( which is now the street we live on ) and so we all visited her and went on walks with her and the dog Champ and got to know her more. And recently our cousins visited us like last week and haven't seen her in so long so we all went over there and said hi and my mom started talking to her about how I really want a dog and also want to walk them and stuff like that and the lady said Sophie and I are welcome to come over and see her dog Champ. And plus I might even be babysitting the dog one of these days. Depends how long Champ will live since he's pretty old. 

So that's the back story on how we know the lady. And now that we have been seeing her a lot, we have been getting to know her really well. And now Sophie and I usually go over there everyday around 5:00 PM and hang out with her dog and chat a bit too. 

My mom just wants to make sure before we get a dog or anything, just that I am around them a lot and have more knowledge about puppies or dogs and raising them and trying to train them too. And right know I have been reading a book called, " The Art Of Raising A Puppy". And I have also been watching a lot of Cesar Milan videos too. 

I just hope some day I will be able to get a dog!😌

So I have watched all of Cesar Millan's videos and have been aching to get a dog!! There are just some problems with me getting a puppy right now. 

My mom wants to make sure it's not going to be an inside dog and sleep in my bed or anything because then we would have so much hair in our house which is bad because we have a lotion business and the last thing we want is to have hair in the lotion. 😐 And she knows we are not going to keep that promise. But I said that we can like put a sign up or something that says all the rules about the dog and then everybody would have to be very strict on it. Soooo I'm just hoping that we will be able to do that and GET a dog!!

Here are the reasons why I want a dog:

1. To have a fun pet companion.

2. To go and take hikes or walks with it.

3. Teach it tricks or discipline. 

4. Plus I have always wanted to be a dog trainer.

5. To set boundaries and limitations with the house or outside. And help it to know what I want it to do. 

6. And if I work with my own dog first and teach it tricks and sit and not to bark etc. I would then be able to work with other different dogs.

And there are probably plenty more reasons why I want a dog but I can't think of it right now. 😊

I have also been taking notes from watching and reading Cesar Millan's YouTube videos and books. Here are pics of what I wrote based off of the vids and books I have seen. And don't judge my hand writing! I know it's bad!

So I recently wanted to get back into drawing so I went on my computer and opened the app Krita and got started on drawing a random face. A girl face. It went ok. It didn't really look that good but I was proud of myself! I took a picture of it and then accidently it deleted the girl's face!! 😐 I was very sad. But I had at least a picture on my phone of her. 

So then a day after I drew another girl's face but this time I looked up faces on the web because I wanted to see how people drew their eyes and hair. So I tried to draw it like theirs and after I was finished it didn't really look like it but it still looked pretty great! I took a picture when it was just a sketch, and then after I put color into it. 

After that drawing I wanted to draw another face and I thought maybe of doing something else like a guys face but when I tried doing it, it was pretty hard so then I went back to drawing another girl face and that went great actually! 

Here are the pics of the girl drawings:

I also tried to do some animation on there too which they also had so I tried that! I first watched a video on how to do it of course then I tried. I actually had a lot of fun doing it! It takes a long time to do it but it looks great! Here is a video!!!

So we actually still have a treehouse from a long time ago which our grandpa built for us kids to go on but now the wood is rotten and breaks super easy if had weight on it. And now Ezra is building a new one for us!! He only has like the bottom almost done. And I think he's building another lower platform underneath the actual treehouse so Sophie and her friends can sit on it. I mean that's what it looks like and I think I over heard him telling mom and dad that's what he is going to do. 

Anyways, he's almost done with the lower platform. He will probably be done with the whole treehouse in like two weeks or so. Probably sooner. 

When he's all done somebody's going to have to go up there and test it out! Which is going to be very scary!!😐 I kind of want to test it out but I'm just so scared it's going to fall down. But hopefully he will put every wood piece and nail in correctly. I'm not even sure if he is following something to build the tree house which I hope he is because.........😑

But I know when it's finished it's going to be great! Here's a pic of what he's done so far:

He made everything from scratch! And even made the ladder by himself!

I had such a fun weekend!! 

So my friends the Garza girls got to come to our house on Saturday at 12:00. But one of the girls wasn't there and that was Abbigail. I asked where she was and they said she wasn't feeling well. :( So it was just Annie and Rosie who came. But we had a great time! 

Here's what we did on Saturday and Sunday together:

So when they first came we practiced line dancing together. They even taught me a new line dance! It was a lot of fun! I keep messing up, but after awhile I finally got it! :) I really wished Abbigail was there because it would just be even more fun with her! 

So after we line danced a bit, we ate lunch which was chicken tacos!! And had soda waters, ( yes that's what they are called ) and after we drank and ate, my mom said that she can drop us off at the little store and then we can walk back. Obviously we went to get candy then walked home from there. :) And Sophie was there too ( my sister not my friend ) and she handled the walk easily. It wasn't hard at all to walk that far. 

So after we got back we started to get ready for that night because there was going to be a band night at the lake club!! So we started to curl our hair. Then after that we got dressed in dresses and then ate and practiced more line dancing until it was time to go. 

So we headed down and Sophie's friends Ellie and Kayden was there. And my friend Abby too! I already knew she was coming.

So first we practiced more line dancing outside the building and then went inside the lake club and danced! We danced all the line dances we knew! And everybody kept saying that we were really good! And even some lady's tried to follow us in the line dancing. And some even taught us one while we were dancing!! So we danced with them. I have done the dance they did but I forgot how it went. But the dance was super easy to remember and do. We had an amazing time together!

Here are some vids of our dancing!

After about two hours of dancing it was like 9:28 PM so we headed back home and the girls stayed the night at our house. We watched clean memes and I got us some blankets and pillows and then fell asleep around 11 in our living room. 

The next morning I got up at 6:30 AM and it was Sunday so I got ready for church and then the girls helped me with the sandwich's that we had to make for a tea party after church. We made them and then the girls got ready for church. We ate breakfast and headed to church around 8:30 because I have to go early to practice music. Rosie and Annie wanted to go so they went with me. And Ezra drove us to church with dad. 

After practicing music we had bible study and then after that had church. Mr. and Mrs. Orr wasn't there and those are the people who do piano and guitar. And who are pros! So it was just Nicholas and Abbigail ( who is a violinist but also can play piano ) and I who played for church. I had solos and I messed up on a lot but it was ok. 

After that Annie and Rosie got to meet the people at the church and then we had a tea party there. The tea party was just for girls and no boys where aloud. 

After we prayed and sat down at the table we started eating. It was super awkward because nobody was talking and kept looking at each other. But we kept breaking the silence with laughs or giggles and then it would go silent again. After awhile we started talking. But we barely talked. We just laughed more then talked. And the girl who played piano named Abbigail said," Boys ask," what do girls do at tea party's?" Me," they giggle and laugh". It was so true what she said. :) 

Well after everybody ate we went outside and played Ninja and played one game of that and then sat in the pews and talked. It was mostly Rosie and Annie who talked. I didn't talk like at all because I was pretty tired plus I love to listen to people talk than rather myself talking. After that we went for a walk around the church. Then went back inside the church and sat on the pews and talked more. Then my dad came and picked us up and we drove the Garza girls back to their house.

That's all what happened!! I had a great time and I wish we could do it over again but with Abbigail next time! :)

I took a Spanish exam today at 9:05 AM!!

So basically this exam will be scoring you on how well you can speak in Spanish and how well you can listen to really fast conversation and say what they were talking about. 

So first it started with the listening. That was really hard because they talked so fast!! It's a recording of a news podcast or something like that and there are like five different options to choose from about what they are talking about. And I'm serious on how fast they talk. My mom over heard it too and she said it was super fast! And she's like a pro at Spanish. I could understand about 36% to 100% on what they were talking about. 

So there are two teachers who will be scoring me. One on the speaking and the other on the listening part. 

Here’s a fun testing part that anybody can do:

 https://avantassessment.com/sample-tests

I won't get the scores like right away from the two teachers because that would just be too soon. But I felt like a did pretty bad because now I realized I didn't use that many complexed words that I already know and should have used. But hopefully I can get at least intermediate low. Which is already a good score.  

I had fun explaining the situations though.😊 

I have been doing my Spanish classes again but it's all adults! 

So at first I just went on but didn't have my camera on because I knew so little of the Spanish words but after I listened to one I knew a lot more and knew how their story went. So then the next time I had my camera on and I hade to actually had to speak which was scary! And there's like thirty adults in there soooo yeah. 

So far I have been doing the Spanish classes for about two weeks or so. It's still pretty scary getting called on but after awhile it's ok. I still have to do my big test! My parents and I have been just forgetting about it! So I really need to do it! But in the meantime I have been just learning more Spanish words as I am going through the class. 

And we just started a new Spanish story! It's pretty hard because we are saying like she knows how to do this in Spanish. I have to really slow down my words when I speak so I can focus on what I am saying more. Which is actually totally fine and it does help me too. 

Thanks for reading my blog post! Bye! 

So last Sunday we woke up in the morning and left around 10:00 AM to Roseville. We left that late because Simeon's church starts at 1.00 PM and it takes about three hours to get there. So we left and we got there on time. 

Ezra drove in his new car with Cameron and Noelle. And there and back only was $15 dollars for gas because his car takes so little gas and can go on for a long time! It was amazing! 

So after church it was like 3:00 PM in the afternoon and everybody else was there and we had tacos and had cake that I made. We didn't watch the Superbowl because everybody wasn't actually a Superbowl fan. But I was getting all the details of the scores from my friend Abby. I was voting for the 49ers but in the very beginning I told Abby I know that the Chiefs are going to win and I was right! Even though the 49ers were very far ahead when I said that.

Here's a pic of the cake I made Simeon for his birthday:

So after everybody ate and had cake Simeon opened his presents. He got a lot of taco things! And then most of everybody left. Nicholas and my brother Jonathan played chess until 10. Then Jonathan left and we headed to bed. 

Sophie, Nicholas, mom, dad and I were the only ones who spent the night at Caleb's house on Sunday night. And in the morning we went to a coffee shop that Simeon always goes too and worked there for a bit and then headed back home. After two hours we were in Chico and decided to head to Taco Shop because it was already lunch time. We ate and then left and headed all the way back home.  

Here are some videos I took!

Ezra just got a new car!! Its a small blue Ford. It's so cute!! I love it so much! 

So Ezra bought the car and then my brother Jonathan fixed it up a little so it's drivable and then later there was some issues with the break pedal so he took it to the mechanics and they fixed it up and now it's perfect!! I actually haven't rode in it yet. I know that sounds crazy but it's true! Hopefully I will soon. 

I am going to clean the inside and outside of it because it's a lot of fun cleaning somebody else's car that's new. Don't worry it's already like super clean but there are some dirty spots so I will get those! :) 

Here are some pics that I took of his car!

Isn't it soooooo cute!!?? I want it now! :)

Simeon's birthday is on Feb 16. We are going to our brother Caleb's house to celebrate it! And Valentines day is just a day before his.

We are going this Sunday to Sacramento and not on his actual birthday. So that means we are going on the 11th of Feb. We will be staying one night. Most of our family will be there but I'm not sure if Noelle and Cameron are going. Nicholas will be going and even wants to stay there for about two or three days! I hope Noelle and Cameron comes! 

I want to bring my violin there because my brother Caleb and my sister in-law can also play! I like playing with Caleb mostly because I'm about his level at playing and Risa is a professional. But I do like to play with her also. :) 

Simeon is turning 18 years old! I know, crazy!! I feel like he should just stay 17 right now because he looks 17. And I also feel like he just had his birthday. Time flies! Soon I will be able to drive! Well, actually I still have about 2 years left but I say that's almost!! :) 

I want to make him a red velvet cake for his birthday. I recently made one and it turned out great!! Not sure if I should do it pink or a different color because it's also almost Valentines day. Still deciding on that.

Sophie is making Simeon a card! She wants to make him a super cool one ;) She also made one for her friend too but that's for Valentines day. 

Anyways, see you next time!!

So yesterday was my first day of starting Spanish again. That day we didn't actually learn any new words or speak in Spanish because our teacher had to tell us important stuff about what he wants us to do this week and he also asked us how we have been these past months. 

This is what he told us about what's going to happen this week.

We aren't going to continue with Spanish classes because since we are apart of their program his dad and him think that they should just skip the rest of the 30 hours because we have already learned so quickly and we need to take a important test and will show if we are intermediate or higher. There's actually a lot more to what he was saying but it's a little too complicated for me to try and explain. But, this week him and his dad will be preparing us for that test all of this week. Then after this week, we will be taking it.

 I have already taken it before but that was a long time ago and since then I have learned a lot more so I get to take it again! I am very happy to take it again but I am also a little scared. Hopefully I will get good high scores! 

After he said that, he also said if we still want to continue with Spanish classes than we could join a different class which has about 30 adults learning. The adults are a tiny bit behind of us in our learning so it would be good to join. But it would be at 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM in the evening. You would have to pay $2,000 each per student but instead of that, since we are apart of their product, we only have to pay $50 per student.  

I am still thinking about it and I would like to join but I would be listening to the recordings instead because around the times they do it that's when I have time to hang out with my friend since she gets off at 3:30 in the evening from the bus. And other reasons too. Plus, my teacher said that you can still learn just as much from listening to the recordings than from actually being there on zoom. And there's actually a lot of people who do that. But it is just a little more effective being there on zoom with each other learning. 

Well, anyways basically everybody was there on our class yesterday except one of the family's who had two sons and a daughter doing Spanish. They have like 11 or 12 kids but those are the ones who wanted to do it since the rest are moved out. And there was another guy who wasn't there either. He was from choir and is Simeon's friend. Actually I think like most of the kids there are from grace notes choir. And we all live near each other which is kind of funny. 

Today I am going on the Spanish class! Its at 12 so it's pretty soon!! Right now for me as I write this it is 11:17 AM. 

Bye!! See you next time!!

Karaoke is back at the lake club!! I have been waiting since 2019 to have it back! 

I used to do karaoke with my friend Sophie and Abby all the time when I was like 9 or 10! I always remembered we would first go to the pool and swim there for a bit and then get out and go to the lake club and sing! But then covid shut it down and never did it again until now sadly. 

Ok, I would sing if I was like with the Garza girls or Abby. Well, maybe...... I feel like it would be pretty cringy if I started to sing again. And if I did sing again it would have to be a song I know pretty well. Or if I played violin and my brother Nicholas did guitar and we played together that would be fine because we do that all the time. But then that's not us doing karaoke. So you know..... I might be too old to do it again. I'm already regretting saying that.😅 

I just need encouragement and the Garza girls with me to do it!! I know probably they are reading this so if you are reading this than we need to sing together one of the nights and then we can have a sleepover after because that would be amazing! 

Anyways, the karaoke night is tomorrow which is Jan 27. I won't sing but I hope my sister Sophie and her friend will sing because that would be amazing! 

Sophie got for her birthday a zip line and a swing!!! They are SOO much fun to be on!! She also got some clip on earrings and a light up dog! And she is still going to be getting things from her older brothers! We don't know what it is yet! 

So we already set up the zip line and the swing and it's just amazing!! I was the very first person to go on the zip line and I was scared because I was thinking it might snap or something and that would hurt a lot since the zip line goes over a hill thing and if I did drop I might break something. So anyways I tried it and then I just kept going on and on because it was a lot of fun! And btw Ezra set up the zip line so..... I was scared. :) 

Ezra was too scared to even go on himself! But I kept telling him to do it or else he will keep avoiding it forever! So finally he went! 

Sophie couldn't go on because her arms wasn't long enough to reach the handle of the zip line. But it did come with a seat so we put that on and I tried it and it was a lot more comfortable than hanging by the handles. But that was also a problem because Sophie still couldn't reach the handles from the seat! We put the seat the highest it could go but STILL she just couldn't reach! This zip line is for kids to go on not really adults so Sophie should've been able to go! So that day she didn't get to go. But the next day I put her on the seat again and told her to hang on to the rope instead of the handles so she did and I let her go. That actually worked!! 

I kept pulling her up and then letting her go! She just loved it! Plus the other night we watched, " George in The Jungle" the real life one. And so while she went she sang " George of the Jungle" song! It was so funny! 

After a couple days Ezra wanted to move the zip line somewhere else that is longer than the one we had. So he took it down and we looked and looked. Oh I forgot to mention that we had the zip line in the back of our backyard. So anyways, we looked and looked to find a place for it but we couldn't so we just decided to keep it down until we can find a spot so right now it's still down. :( 

Our swing is like my friend the Garza's! So it's really fun! It's just that all the trees around us is basically dead so if there's too much weight on the swing, it might you know..........:( 

But everything Sophie got for her birthday is amazing!! 

So today I will be explaining the differences between a violin and a fiddle. 

I just want to say that there is no difference between them at all! All you do is play differently. Now you must be asking, " Jo, everybody plays different types of music so why is it called fiddle playing and not violin playing?!?" 

Well, to answer your question, technically you can say you are playing violin music but to be more specific about what type your playing, you can say I am playing fiddle music. 

Here's what fiddle playing sounds like:

That video was a guy playing really good fiddle music! Some people even make up different fiddle songs because it's just pretty easy to make! They don't even need to name it. Once you hear that type of music, than you will know that's fiddle playing. And again, it isn't a different type of violin that's called a fiddle. It's just a certain way you play it. 

I actually LOVE fiddle music!! I try to play like that but for me, I can't do it. I just need time and practice. Which I am too lazy to do. :) Ok, actually not true....... I practice for church and for the bible studies and then after I practice. But most of the time I don't try to do fiddle music. But I should!! 

Well, Bye!!!!!

I have my Spanish classes coming up soon!! It's starting up again on Jan 29. I am really excited!! And nervous too! I am scared that I might forget some Spanish words! Which I probably will. But Hopefully I won't! 

Our whole class was supposed to be reading Spanish books while we weren't doing our classes on zoom. But most of the class didn't read. I did for about 3 weeks. I stopped because we were moving into a different house at that time. And most of the time I didn't know where the computer was. I still need to do it now that we are moved in but I am lazy and don't really want to do it. But I am doing Duolingo everyday so that kind of counts! 

But I am excited to do it again. But the only thing I don't like, is that I want to do choir again in Redding but the time of when the Spanish classes end are close to when the choir starts. I do have like 20 mins to get ready and eat lunch, but right after I would have to leave. Some of the people from choir are actually in the Spanish classes. But my mom says that she doesn't want to have to drive me there every Tuesday but that Ezra can when he gets his drivers license. Technically, Ezra would be getting his drivers license this year but then I would have to be in the semester for the Christmas choir performance and that's going to be awhile. But also I would be almost 14 years old so I would be able to be in the Senior choir!! So I guess I will wait. 

I might even do ballet again in the summer but I am still deciding. I am right now trying to do the splits. So everyday I do the exercises for it. So wish me luck!! Bye!! 

Sophie's and Cameron's birthday is on the 20th Jan. My brother Jonathan's is on the 13th Jan. So for their birthdays, our family is going to the grand buffet!! We are going on the 20th! I can't wait to eat all the good food there!! 

Sophie will be turning 8! And Cameron I think is turning 24 or 25. Jonathan is turning 25. 

My parents for Jonathan's birthday are going out with him today for lunch actually! My mom wrapped the presents for him and just left! 

I also really want to make a cake for Cameron. I was actually thinking of making a red velvet cake for Valentine's Day but since that's still far away I decided to make Cameron a different type of cake. I am finding out what Cameron wants! But still deciding if I should make one because lately my cake decorating has been a little ehh. But I probably will do it. 

The grand buffet is in Redding and it's a tradition in our family to go there for anyone's birthday! We tried going there when our entire family was here last but that day we wanted to go, it was closed. :( But instead we all went to a Mexican restaurant!! That was a pretty good one! But this time we checked and the grand buffet is not closed on the day we want to go!! So I am very excited!! 

I have many friends, and I love how each one never ends. I love how the Garza girls are always there to make me laugh and have fun, and they always get that job done! I'm just so happy to have them as chums! And I can't wait to be roommates when the time comes! My other best friend was from when we were babies. Don't worry, we never had rabies. Well, her name is Abby! She comes and always makes me happy! We almost play every day. When we were young, we did ballet! Every Friday we go to the lake club! We're there to have fun and eat some grub! My favorite type of grub is chicken and fries. But I would rather have some pies. But I'm just so glad to have friends like the Garza girls and Abby! They aren't too shabby! Jk they are actually amazing people! I'm so glad that God gave me them to me! I hope that one day we could all go and ski! 

Thanks for reading this second poem I made!! Hoped you liked this one!! 

I moved to a different place. And now we have a smaller space. We have a beautiful deck and backyard, and it's easy to roam since it's not hard. I love the sunset glistening over the treetops in the summer as the hummingbirds hummer. All we need is a dog, but my parents say, "Not yet! Wait until the house is all set!" So now I wait until that day, "Please let us get a dog God!", I pray. I still wait as my sister Noelle tries to sneak and get me one, but I should wait until God answers me and gets the job done. But I know when I get a dog, my life will be a lot more fun! As I watch my neighbors walk with their dogs, I choose what breed I want, but when I close my eyes, they start to haunt! Im ok I say, but really I'm not. I love my new home, and I love the hills on which I roam! Goodbye, I say to my old house! Im sorry I never got to meet my spouse! 

Thank you for reading this poem I just finished up today! I did it all by myself from scratch! Tell me if you like it!! bye!!!

Im very sorry for not writing a lot more blog posts! Our family has been very busy lately because we moved to a different house, Christmas and New Year.

So today, I will be talking about the Christmas we had in our new house!!! 

It was probably the best Christmas ever!! Here are some reasons why it was!

1. Everybody in our family was there.

2. James was a part of it too.

3. it was in our new house.

4. Stayed up until 1, playing games with everybody!

5. We Went to a candlelight service with our family.

And many more amazing times we already had in our new house!! All we need is a dog! But if we ever did want to get a dog, it would have to be way after we were all completely settled into the new house since we still have to move our lotion business over and some of the garage stuff, too. But so far, we have been sleeping in it for about almost three weeks. And we already have our kitchen stuff moved over to eat dinner and all that. 

We had to rip out ALL the flooring because it was getting pretty bad already. Then, we had to put wood flooring in, raise a bit of the floor, and paint every wall in the house except the bathrooms. And by the way, our family did all of that, and we didn't hire somebody, too, since Cameron already knew how to put the flooring in and even taught Ezra! Our brother Jonathan told our dad that his birthday present to him was sending one of our friends to come help us with the floor so we could get it done faster. Our dad's birthday, by the way, was like two weeks ago. But that was the only help we got from one person, and other than that, we did it ourselves! And that's why it took a long time to get moved in. 

But so far, I LOVE our new/old house (since we used to live in it when I was little)! Our backyard is nice and big! I remembered it a lot bigger, though, when I was younger. I guess that's because I was so much smaller then. 

In the evenings it's so beautiful! The sun glistens over the trees and grass, and it's just amazing! Hey! I have an idea! I should write a poem about this house!! 

Anyway, back to what I am writing about: our Christmas!!

We went to church on Christmas Eve with my parents, Sophie, Ezra, Nicholas, and I. Our other family wasn't coming to our church but to theirs first and then coming over afterward for lunch. Nicholas and I always play our instruments for church, and this Sunday, we did! :) Usually, five players play, but three of our best ones didn't come since they were with their family somewhere else for Christmas, and the other one was sick. So it was just Nicholas and I playing until one of the girls there played a bit of piano and helped us out a little. The music went kind of bad, but it doesn't matter if the music is kind of bad because all that matters is when your singing and praising the Lord in song! 

After church, we headed to our old house and ate lunch with our family! And by then, lots of them were basically all there! So we ate, headed over to the new house, and started preparing food for that night since we were going to have a massive party!! Then, after everything was set up, we ate dinner, relaxed, and talked until it was time to go to the candlelight service!

 After the candlelight service, most of our family walked back in the dark! Including Sophie and I! It was so much fun!

When we got back, we waited until Noelle and Cameron came( because they were at somebody else's house)  and then opened presents!! I got an AMAZING bike from Cameron!!! And a new bedspread and some vines for my new room from Noelle!! And I even got cereal from Noelle, too! And some other things from my friend Abby! It was a fantastic Christmas! The best part is watching people open their gifts and seeing their expressions!! :) Especially my sister Sophie and my sister-in-law Risa! It was just an awesome Christmas!! 

Cameron, Noelle, Nicholas, Simeon, one of our friends, and Gideon stayed the night! We all slept in the living room except Gideon and our friend. They slept in our bunk beds, and around 2:30 AM, the bunk bed fell on Gideon!! And our friend was on the top of the bunk bed! There was no injury to Gideon, but we all laughed at what had happened! :) They just moved the top matres on the floor, and our friend slept on that. Now the reason the bunk bed fell on them is because we didn't have two screws that had to be in there, and so BOOM! It fell. Sophie and I had been sleeping there before without the two screws, and it hadn't fallen on us yet, but it did now on Gideon!! 

In the morning, it was Christmas! Everybody hung out and talked! And that day, Cameron helped us bring over our fridge! Oh! I almost forgot!! We shot rockets on Christmas day, too! It was a lot of fun!!! I don't have videos with me because only our siblings do. 

Well, Goodbye!!!

 I will discuss what type of sewing machine I should buy. This is about the note Gideon gave me about the sewing machine. If you don't know what note I am talking about, go back to the blog post, " What Kinds of Projects I Would Like to Make With a Sewing Machine! ". 

So my mom thought the Singer brand would be a good one to get. She said Singer has been known for a long time. So I looked it up. It was a good brand, but I wasn't used to seeing the buttons in different places. So then I asked my sewing teacher what brand hers was ( because I always used hers when we did sewing classes ). She said hers was a Janome, and hers is pretty old. But she did say that Singer is a good brand. She also said that the store Joanns was selling sewing machines half off! So my mom looked on their website. There were a lot of them so then she told me to look at it on my computer. I personally like the Janome that I am familiar with. Here's a pic I took of one that I found:

I do like this one! So now we need to check it out more! 

So my brother Gideon gave me a note saying that if he got me a sewing machine, I would have to, number one, find a good brand that I like, number two, find projects I would like to make, and number three, find a suitable course that I can follow. By the way, he said this because it was my birthday on Nov 7th. So yes it was for my birthday. Forgot to mention that. Oops.  :)

I do really want a sewing machine! So I said yes. 

So today, I will say what projects I would like to make with it! Here is the list:

1. Pillowcases

2. Cute Bags

3. Scrunches

4. Table Cloths

5. Pop Corn Bags. ( the ones you have to heat up like rice warmers )

6. Maybe Shorts. 

7. Aprons

8. Cute tie bags. ( maybe even for my mom's business )

9.  A sewing machine carrier that holds, sewing scissors, rippers, scrap pieces from other projects, uhh, anything!

10. Coasters

There is probably a lot more too! I have already sewed before, pants, shorts, scrunches, bags, pillowcases, and aprons. I sewed those things with my friend's grandma. We had a lot of lessons from her. But now she is not teaching anymore because my friend doesn't have time to do those things because she plays a lot of sports. 

Bye!

So I was Arwen from the Lord of the Rings. And our friend, Jonathan, was a hobbit from Lord of the Rings, and so was Ezra, our brother. Ezra looked like Sam, and Jonathan looked like Frodo. I curled Ezra's hair for the first time because hobbits have curly hair. And it actually didn't look bad at all!

Oh, and Sophie was a red fairy. 

Ezra put his costume together about two hours before we left. Jonathan had already had his costume planned out a while ago. And they look exactly like hobbits! But they need to be shorter because hobbits are small and elves are very tall. I had my brother Caleb's bow for looks. We took pictures right before we left. We look so cool!! Here they are!!!

So we left to go trick or treating! I went with my brother Jonathan, French Jonathan, and Ezra in one car, and Sophie went with my mom in her car. We met up with the Ramirazes on Freshwater and started from there! We did almost the whole street! This street is about four miles long!! I kept getting confused about where we were! But thankfully, we made it out in the end! After Freshwater we went to our friend James house and said hi and got some candy there. And even went to our old house that we will move back into. 

Then everybody went back home except me because I really wanted to get full-sized candy on our street that somebody had. So now I have a full-sized Hershey and Kit cat. 

I hope you liked our costumes!!

Okay, I made a post on when I first got a violin. I just went back to the post and read it. Back when I first had my violin, there were a lot of things that I wish I hadn't thought that was right but actually wrong. As I once said, " When the peg on the violin starts to slip, just tighten the fine tuners, and that will fix the problem." NO! That will NOT fix the problem. It was caused by the air temperature. When, let's say, the air gets hot, suddenly, your peg will start to slip. To fix the problem, push the peg more into the violin. Or a more terrifying way is to take out the whole peg, lightly swipe it with your violin bow, and then put it back on. The rosin should stick to the wood and not slip easily. Boom! Fixed that problem! Number two! When you are a beginner, remember only to use the fine tuners. UNLESS your fine tuners can't tighten any tighter or they can't loosen any looser, then first make sure that the fine tuner is almost the way out before switching to the peg. I don't know why you do that. So don't ask! I actually could be wrong here, so.... yeah. Risa, if you are reading this, you can tell me why in the comments. 

I now know a lot more things about the violin. I remember when I broke a string, and the bridge fell off. I cried because I felt so bad and was angry at myself for breaking it already! I even wrote a letter to the people at the music store asking if they could please fix it for free and telling them how sorry I was. Then I put the letter inside my violin case and gave it to my parents to take there. I didn't go because my parents had to run errands. Later, they came back with a fixed violin for me! I was just so happy! I asked them if they had to pay for it, but they said nope! I didn't want to touch it because I was afraid of breaking it again. But after days went by, I started to play it. 

Yep! That was my violin story! Now, I don't feel afraid of holding, touching, or even tuning it like I used to. Oh, I even named it Harmony. My friend Abby's violin is named Melody. I might change mine because I want a cool boy type of name for a violin. So comment and give me some name ideas! 

Bye! Thanks for reading this blog!!

Don't worry, our actual Spanish classes aren't done. Only our story is. And Today I have a Spanish class soon! Because today is Monday! We have our Spanish classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. 

So, let me talk about what our Spanish story is now! I will be saying it in English:

There is a girl named Elana. She lives in Omaha, Nebraska. She lives with her pet cat, Fredrick Brownie. Fredrick used to give her chocolate, but now he doesn't because there is no more chocolate in Omaha, Nebraska. So now Elana is very sad. 

There is a rock named Rocky. Rocky lives with his friend Elden in a cave. Elden is an elephant. He is a normal elephant because he is super big like an elephant. It is a good situation because Eldon gives Rocky Willy Wonka chocolate every day. Now Elden is Rocky's favorite friend. Their cave is super big because Elden is big, so it's perfect. Rocky is very small because he is a rock. He speaks rock and elephant. Elden speaks elephant because he is an elephant. And he also speaks rock. Rock is a hard language, but elephant is an easy language. Their lives are perfect. 

That's it so far. All of those English words are what we can all say in Spanish. I would write it in Spanish, but I would write it all wrong. And plus, I don't want to search it up either because that would take too long! 

Our actual class will be ending soon! I only have about two weeks or so left! It said it would end right at the beginning of November! And November is soon!! That also means......... my birthday is almost here!! My b-d is on Nov 7th if you want to know.....wink wink! Contact me for the birthday list if you want to know. 

Okay! Well, I think this is the end of the blog post!! Leave a message, please!! Bye!!

I LOVE the Lord of the Rings movies!! Super good! So I decided to be an elf from it. I wanted to be Arwen, an elf princess, but I had no clothes that would look exactly like hers. Those types of dresses cost a lot! So I decided to be an elf from Lord of the Rings who is from the elf kingdom, and I might be Arwen. I'm still deciding.

My friend Abby wanted to be a cowgirl with me. But I wanted to be an elf, so she decided to be one too. Now we have the exact same outfit. I wanted to be Arwen the elf, but Abby has the same outfit and has never seen Lord of The Rings, so I will probably be a normal elf with her. She has a crystal tiara, many cute butterfly clips in her hair, and pretty elf jewelry for her ear. I will wear a viny type of tiara and then elf ear jewelry. 

We wanted to do elf makeup but don't know what exactly. So we still have to decide on that. Abby and I already got our stuff in the mail, so we are all set except for the makeup part. Super excited!

I am coming up with a plan about where to go on Halloween. Like what streets we are going to hit and stuff like that. Also, I will write down who has full-sized candy bars or full-sized candy stuff on the streets. 

Here is what our costumes look like on us:

I have been teaching my friend Abby how to play the violin! So far, she is super good at it and learning fast! I have been taking videos since she first started till now. And so far, I have only been playing for two weeks! She has had the violin for a week longer, but that does not count because she only practiced when I was there, and I was not there every day, so this only counts as she only practiced for two weeks. I put all the videos together and will now show them to you. But don't forget she has only been playing for two weeks!

We are learning the scales; basically, doe ray me fa so la ti doe. But keep going higher. I don't know if I even spelled that correctly, so don't judge! We have been learning the scales, and Abby has nailed it down! 

 I want her to use the whole bow, the very tip of the bow, and the frog down to the very bottom. But that is pretty hard to do. I mean, she doesn't have a scratchy noise or a bumpy noise but a clear-sounding noise. So, the next thing she can learn is to use the whole bow. She has done that before, but I want her to do it for every song she does.

 Now we are learning for Christmas Feliz Navidad! I went on YouTube, and there is a video that shows numbers like 2, 1, 3 and stuff like that, so she knows what finger to put down. At first, she didn't understand it, but then she told me," Jo, the two words you said, I now understand it!" So now she is learning Feliz Navidad's song from YouTube and can play the music from the video. It's a little hard to place the third finger on the fingerboard for her because you have to stretch them sometimes, and it is hard to do, but I know she will nail that third finger over time! 

Last night, we went on a Zoom call and practiced Feliz Navidad, but when she tried playing I couldn't hear her, which also happened to Abby. But I did hear her a little bit. So it wasn't too bad. 

She is just so good at it!! So happy for her!!  :)

We also made a funny video! Obviously, it wasn't her playing and it doesn't really look like she is actually playing the song because of the shifting and all that but don't judge! 

We are going to move back to our old house! The house where we used to have our dog Diego in! 

I am very excited about it! I really want to decorate my new room! I want the theme to be music! Maybe Noelle could paint music notes or something cool like that. Also, we want to get stuff into the house in December. So there's still a lot of time before we move. We could even get a dog if we move back! Since our old house has a big fenced-in backyard! 

It still has a tree house from like seven years ago. Maybe more than that, even. So we might have to re-build it since the wood might break from how old it is. But I hope we can make it into a secret little hideout place or somewhere where we can have friends up there like reading books, practicing music, or playing instruments! I have a lot of ideas already for the house! 

I hope these months move fast so we can hurry up and move! But I do love the house we are in. The reasons are a nice view, a friend nearby, it's a big nice two-story house, at the top of a hill, so it's nice to go down in the gullies, uh. Probably a lot of other reasons too! Reasons for moving to the other house, you can directly walk down a really nice pathway to the lake club that is right next to the house, treehouse, big backyard, dog, decorate my new room, woodstove, a nice big cozy living room, biking trails, friends next door practically,  probably a lot more reasons why I want to move to the other house! 

Please leave comments! Bye! And thank you for reading this!!

I just started Spanish class about two weeks ago! We are starting a new story about a boy named Bart. And our first Spanish class, he had a song for us to sing to and listen to! The song was called " My Heart Will Go On," but instead of the words in the song, he put our old story in! It was pretty funny us trying to sing to it! Okay, I didn't sing to it but danced to it. I took a video of the people singing to it on my phone. I will put that video at the very bottom of this blog post. We got pretty far already in the new story that we are doing. Here is it in English:

There is a boy. The boy is Bart. Bart lives in Redding, California. But he used to live in Boring, Oregon. He lived in a small tipi in Boring, Oregon. There was an Elephant named Freddy. He was Bart's favorite elephant. Freddy is very big and fat. Freddy lived with Bart in the small tipi. Freddy was not happy because the tipi was very small, and he was big. Freddy had a friend. The friend was a cat. The cat had a cat, Cocola. But Freddy wanted an Elephant Cocola, not a cat Cocola. So Freddy was sad. 

But now Bart lives in Redding, California. Bart is very happy because he lives in a big house. He has a mosquito friend named Charles living with him. Charles is special to Bart. Charles is happy because he went to Mosquito McDonalds because he wants a mosquito Cocola. 

There is a buffalo. The buffalo is Bernie. Bernie lives in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. But he used to live in Tennessee in a hotel. One part of the hotel is part buffalo, and the other part is for mosquitos. And Bernie used to be a boy, too! He used to be Elvas Pressly! But now he is a buffalo. He speaks three languages, Cat, Buffalo, and Elephant, and lives in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. Bernie is very interesting. And this is a very interesting situation. 

The End........for now at least. 

Did you like that Spanish story? Our Spanish teacher keeps making stuff up, keeps the story going, and has us learn new Spanish words! It's a lot of fun telling this story in Spanish! I would write this in Spanish, but I spell Spanish words wrong and might get some words wrong in different spots. But I hope you liked this story so far! Thanks for reading! Bye!