I have had a loose tooth for a long time. I couldn't get it out.

Then one day one I was reading one of my favourite books: The Penderwicks. I started to play with my tooth then I heard a crack of the root I turned it around and then it came out.

I ran to tell Mum I just could not wait to hear what she would say. But Mum was on the phone so I went in search of Imogen to tell her what had happened. I just could not keep it to myself.


When Mum got of the phone she gave me $2 for my tooth. I do not believe in the tooth fairy. Do you?

As soon as Dad got home I told him all about it. Dinner was so much better tasting now that I did not have a tooth to get in the way and bleed.  

Mum was on the internet, "Look what I found," said Mum and we all came running.

It was a math's site named Manga high. There were lots of maths games but Mum knew just which one she wanted to play. It was an Algebra game called Algebra Melt Down. To play the game you had to place the right atoms to make the right answers to give to the the right scientist. We all like it very much. So Mum went and made us an account.

There were a lot of games and we spent ages just finding a game to play. Some are a bit too hard for me to play but most of them I can play.

Manga high is not like all the other maths sites I have ever played. I have not lost interest in it and I don't think that I will. There are so many maths games and so little time to play them in.

The second day when I signed in there was a new maths game. It was a game about angles.

I soon found out that there were more than games on the site. There were also prodigi. Prodigi are maths quizzes where we can practise our maths skills.

I love maths now.

I went to picnik to see if I could do with a photo of me, what Mum did with a photo of herself, on her new blog Sue Elvis Writes Notes


Nomal Sophie




Black and White Sophie



 Sepia Sophie


1960s Sophie


Gritty Sophie



Pencil Sketch Sophie

That's all. I hope you like the photos as much as I do.http://www.picnik.com/app

There are so many things to do and so little time before Christmas. Don't you think the same?
We are making our own cards for Christmas this year. I think that home made cards are so much prettier than shop bought ones.

First we got out lots of pens, pencils and paper. We drew some pictures and wrote Merry Christmas on some of them. Then we coloured them and inked them. The cards were beautiful but Mum had another brilliant idea. Her idea was that we should make little tags to go on the Christmas tree to go with them.
Mum found some nice holy pictures in a book and scanned them. Imogen was in charge of our job. Our job was to cut out pieces of card and stick them to the pictures.

Charlotte went on the computer and printed off some little pieces of paper saying 'Merry Christmas from Sue, Andy, Duncan, Callum, Imogen, Charlotte, Sophie, Gemma-Rose'. It was all in different fonts.
We are almost finished with the cards and tags.

Making things for Christmas is a lot of fun.

Yesterday was the first Sunday in advent. The night before we found the advent wreath and the nativity scenes. We have two nativity scenes.

We had to get up very early on the Sunday because we had to go to Mass. Mass was lovely just like it always is. Then we went home for a big breakfast.

After breakfast Mum and Dad went out to buy some candles for the advent wreath. Mum made the advent wreath 12 years ago out of salt dough and it is still just as good as it was when she made it.
The colours of the candles we got were three purple and one rose. The purple candles our for penance and the rose candle is for Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete Sunday is the third Sunday in advent.At dinner Dad lit the first candle on the wreath and we all sang an advent hymn.

Gemma-Rose and I could not wait to find the three wise men. Mum hides the felt three wise men in all sorts of places in the house. She moves the three wise men when every one has found them. She will let them join the nativity scene on Epiphany.

I love advent but I love Christmas even better.

Yesterday I thought that my blog would look nice with a blog banner.

Gemma-Rose is the best sister ever. If we get into fights she always will forgive me.

She will play board games even if she does not like them.

One day when I was out shopping with Mum, she did all the weekend jobs without me. She even did under the bed.

I am so glad that I have Gemma-Rose as my little sister instead of anyone else.

I am glad I share a room with Gemma-Rose. We can do anything together that way.

Even though she was getting bored of me reading out my story to her she listened to me until I had finished. I try to be patient with Gemma-Rose but I lose my temper way too often.

I think that the way to be a good sister is to be kind and to forgive. From now on I will try to be a better sister to Gemma-Rose.

We're going on a beach holiday. Mum's has booked a lovely beach cottage by 'Swan Lake.' The cottage is called 'Swan Lake Cottage'. Four years ago we went on another beach holiday.

"Swan Lake Cottage" has three bedrooms. They all have queen beds. One bedrooms bunk beds as well. On our last holiday there were four bedrooms, with two queen beds, one set of bunks, and three single beds. The house was much bigger with two storeys, three bathrooms, and two living areas. this house is small and cosy.


"Swan Lake Cottage comes with six bikes and a canoe. I want to learn how to canoe. Dad knows how to canoe so maybe he'll help me. On our last holiday the boys went kayaking.

"Swan Lake' has black swans living round it. It's right next to the sea. In spring, whales and dolphins come to the coast. There's no jellyfish in the lake. There's really nice sand and the water is shallow and clear, just right for swimming.


I'm so excited about this holiday. I'm looking forwards to learning how to canoe, sleeping in a queen sized be with Gemma-Rose, and buying souvenirs. I'm going to take lots of photos and write a diary every day.

After our last beach holiday we made a scrapbook of all our diary pages, postcards, photos, and stamps. For this holiday we want to do the same.

I was trying to think of some craft to do. Then I came up with the idea of making little notebooks.

The day of my confirmation came at last. The time before it had past so slowly.

I got up at six thirty. Nothing was much different than a normal Saturday. When all the jobs were done I put on my confirmation dress. It was very pretty. It was made of white satin, with white beads in flower shapes on the front.

Then it was time to get in the van for the long trip. On the way to the confirmation  I listened to my mp3 player, I read one of my favourite books, and I counted trucks.

When we got there two of my friends showed me the church. They were also going to be confirmed. When we got into the church we had a run though of what we had to do.

Then the Confirmation started. I was nervous and excited at the same time but when the bishop winked at me I felt better. I was the first one to be confirmed.
  
After the confirmation I had my photo taken with the bishop outside the church.

In the hall there was a very nice lunch or afternoon tea, I couldn't tell which . Everyone who had been confirmed were photographed together. Another photo was taken of us all standing around the cake. In the photo around the cake I was at the back and could not be seen so Mum took a photo of me with the cake. Then the cake was cut. I got a piece of cake and went outside with my best friend.

When we got home we had a movie dinner and then the best cake I had ever seen. It had twelve fruits on top and it was an white chocolate cake. Dad, Gemma-Rose and I had made all the fruits out of icing. There was a huge pineapple in the middle and the rest of the fruits like the apple and pear and tomato were grouped round it.

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to have my confirmation and on Sunday my wish came true. It was after Mass we had just got out of the church and Mum went to our priest and asked if I could have my confirmation with some other homeschoolers on the last Saturday of the holidays. I could not believe my ears on the way to the car. Mum asked me what I thought. I was so pleased that I could have jumped up and down if I was not in the car and the roof was so low that I could not even stand straight.

When we got home I tried to think of a confirmation saint. Mum said “How about St John Vianney. He came from about the same time as your other saint Sophie Madeleine”. So I asked about his life. Mum told me that he was a miracle maker. When I heard this I wanted to hear more about him so me and Mum went to the bookcase and tried to find out a bit about him. After a lot of looking we found one. When I had read it I loved the story so much that I just had to have him. So now he will be my Confirmation saint. I shall be Sophie Madeleine Jean-Marie-Baptiste.

Imogen is going to be my confirmation sponsor. She is no one else's sponsor.

My dress is a lovely white dress. It has embroidery and beads on the front. It is made out of silky material. It took me a long time to decide which dress I wanted to wear because I had four dresses to choose from and they were all pretty.

Imogen also wrote a post about my confirmation on her blog, Dancing With Dragonflies.

I'm going in three weeks time. I can't wait!

This is Mr Lime. He is a primary school teacher and is very funny. He loves to spend time with his family. He likes to play board games and cricket. He also likes to watch cricket. His favourite food is chocolate.