Growing Avocados by Jack

On Saturday, mom was making guacamole and I noticed that she had two avocados.  The seeds (pits) were interesting because they are so big.  I thought that we could save money by growing our own food, so mom looked up how to grow avocados from the seed on the internet.  There are 2 ways.  The first way was the way Bobpa did it, where you stuck toothpicks in it and put a little bit of water in a bowl, then we watch it grow roots.  There are no roots yet.  The second way is putting it in a pot.  You have to leave part of it in the light out of the soil.  And you have to put big rocks in the bottom of the pot, but not cover up the hole so the water can drain.  We are doing an experiment to see what happens, and to see which seed grows faster.  We planted them on Sunday, so we are now on day 3.  Neither seed has roots yet.

Cookies! by Maddie

Today I made chocolate chip cookies.  I had one. It tasted like freshly baked cookies right out of  the oven because,well they were freshly baked right out of the oven. Ha ha ha.Very funny.  Chocolate chip cookies taste really good with milk. You should try it. If you already have try it again. I love cooking and any body who does not is crazy.

Weekend at Nana's house by Mom

I can't believe how infrequently the family gets up to my parent's beautiful Lake Conroe home these days.  We used to go all the time, but during the school year we almost never get up there.  So, when the whole family is free for a weekend this summer, we're going to try our best to get up there!!

There is almost nothing better than waking up to a beautiful lake view, a quiet house, and the smell of bacon frying downstairs...and that is how my Saturday began this weekend.  Immediately, of course, I wondered about the quiet--there were six kids somewhere around, after all--my three, and three of my brother's kids--Caroline, who had spent Thursday night with my family, and Kate & Ben, who had been at Nana's all week attending Kamp Bentwater with Melanie.

Turns out my brother, Jim, had the absoultely brilliant idea of sending them all outside to find their own bait for fishing later on...they were in Bobpa's garden digging for worms. I took my coffee out to the side porch for a minute to watch the spectacle...SO FUNNY!!  There's Jack in his pajamas, with a shovel & pail digging for worms with Caroline, Kate, Maddie & Melanie--most of which were also still in PJs.  (Ben was more interested in trying out his new golf clubs than joining in the worm expedition.)  The commentary was hysterical!!  "I got another one...that's THREE WORMS!"  And, "Ooooh, mine is a REALLY LONG ONE!!"  "We've got FIVE WORMS!"  "This one is REALLY SKINNY!"  After they found about eight worms, Uncle Jim finally let them back inside, deeming their worm count to be enough to go fishing.

First, however, they wanted to try the canoe that Uncle Jim brought a few weeks ago.  Nothing better than rowing around the lake!  Maddie was a lazy bones all day & after the worm expedition stayed in her pjs, not wanting to put on sunscreen or get hot.  Jack, however, LOVED the canoe & even went out fishing with Uncle Jim & Caroline for a little while.  He caught a pretty nice one.

After Jim & his kids went home, I persuaded Aunt Ree to come up & we had a lovely time out on the side porch with our wine. 

I am so glad that Mike was able to come up, too, as he was in his element fixing things and going to the store for my mom & dad.  He gets up there even less often than the rest of us.  Melanie didn't want to come home, even though she had been up there since the previous Saturday!

Look for Maddie to write about her experiences at piano camp this week...and Jack is doing another week at Camp Nottingham.  We went to the library again yesterday so all of them have lots to say.  Keep reading, & keep the comments coming--the kids LOVE to read them!!   

Kamp Bentwater by Melanie (unedited & typed by mom)

I went to Nana's to go to Bentwater Camp.  Ben and Kate, my cousins, went with me.  I first had to play a little bit and they had some things to take a rest which was the swinging bench, and just in case you get thirsty they had some water.  There was an only girl group and an only boy group, so Ben was in the only boy group and Kate and me were in the girl group.  We went to the pool, and played in the pool, but Kate didn't want me to play with her.  I wanted to be her partner but her wouldn't let me and her said I couldn't.  I played with Kate a little bit, and they had the noodles in case we would sink.  But not at the deep end.  We didn't go in the deep end.  Nobody did.  We ate lunch on the ground like a picnic with our towels, we were spreading them out so that we could sit on them and eat lunch.  I made a puppet that was arts and crafts, at the same time we did crafts every day.  They had a ladies room & a boys room.  Girls goes in the girls with the girl counselors.   And I don't remember their names.  One girl was Abby, and another Abby with brown hair.  There was lots of Abbys,  there was three Abbys. 

My favorite thing was going in the pool and after the pool we played some games and we go on some slip and slides last, and there are two slip & slides, and the last slip & slide is a water slide what had water on it. And we played some games after that.  Then we went home to Nana's house.  I slept in the loft with Kate in the beds where Caroline and Maddie used to sleep.  And I slept by Jack's bed.  And that's all.

Baby birds By Maddie

Today we went up to MWE to see the purple martins. In house number 5 there is four purple martin babys. First Mrs.Cooper lowered the purple martin house, then she checked every house before looking at house number 5. I got to hold a baby. The baby purple martin pooped in my hand. I have five letters for you
E-W-W-W-W! The purple martins are getting bigger every day.

MWE Purple Martin Babies by Jack

Today we went to see the baby Purple Martins.  We met Mrs. Cooper and Caden and Fahad at the Spark Park to see the Purple Martins. First we cranked down the houses and we looked in the other houses first for other nests.  We did not find any other Martin nests in the houses.  Then we checked in Pod 5, and the babies were sleeping.  Their feathers were growing on, they are bluish-purplish.  Some of their eyes were open and they opened their mouths because they wanted food.  They were cute.  Maddie, Mrs. Cooper and Caden held one of the babies, but I did not want to hold a baby.  I was afraid it was going to poop on me.

Purple Martins by Mom

This morning before camp we met up with Jack's 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Cooper, at the Purple Martin sanctuary at MWE.  What an awesome sight to see all the purple martins flying around, and then we got to see the babies! 

I am in the process of trying to figure out how to get the pictures we took off my phone so I can upload them.  I can't wait until this afternoon, they are both going to write about their experience this morning with the purple martins.  Jack & Maddie were so thrilled to see those babies!!!

Camp Nottingham by Jack

Today at camp we played tennis.  We played snake pit.  It's a game where you try to hit the ball in the blue, and if someone catches it either on no bounces or one bounce, then you have to go and catch or if you hit it in the green area you have to go and catch, or if you don't hit it over the net you have to go and catch.  I always get in the pit. 

When it was time to swim, I went on the slide and played with John, Justin, Miguel and Jason.  We went to the park and we went to the sport court.  At the sport court we played Medic and Duck, Duck Goose Extreme.  Medic is a game where you throw balls at the other team & try to get them out, and each team has a medic, and if you get out and then the medic can come & tag you then you're back in.  If the medic gets out, no one can get back in.  Duck, Duck Goose Extreme is kind of like regular, but you get to pick any animal you want to do, then you have to make the noises and do the motions that animal does. 

My favorite camp counselor is Jacob because he's cool.  My favorite thing about camp is playing at the park because we always play Capture the Flag.

I like riding my bike to camp because when we get to the hill we get to go fast.

BOOKS!!! By Maddie

On Tuesday we went to the new Houston pupic library. I got four books. I have already finished a book. Three more books to go! The book I finished is called Curse at Zala Manor! It is about a boy named AJ and his friend Emily trying to break a curse on AJs family. If you have not gone to the library then you should!    And if tou have ,then go again and again and again. When you go into the library it is like a dream, a beautiful
beautiful dream!

We are back...by Mom

Well, the whole family came down with the strange fever virus that Jack had on Wednesday night last week, and it lasted about 3 days.  We were supposed to go to Austin for Mike's parent's 50th anniversary party, but due to the up-and-down thermometers we didn't make it.  Instead, we went up to Conroe last night & spent the night, and now Maddie, Jack & mom are back.  We left Melanie up there for Bentwater Camp, which was really weird, I can't believe she's old enough to go!! I miss her already, it's so quiet when she's not here.  I know she'll have fun though.  She packed up her back pack with all the things she wants to wear at camp, including her favorite brown & pink polka dot bikini. 

Maddie & Jack have their second week of Camp Nottingham this week, after missing most of it last week.  Hope everyone stays well this time.  We are going to try to have cousin Caroline over for a sleepover sometime this week.

Now that everyone is well, please look for more posts from Maddie & Jack...and please vote in their poll!  A new one will be up tomorrow.

Aunt Ree's Birthday Presents by Melanie (typed by mom)

For Aunt Ree's Birthday, we went to the store to get chicken napkins.  They were pretty but a little weird.  We got some pancake cutters and we got some Star Wars cookie cutters.  They're for mama.  We went to the grocery store. We got flowers, they were light red and not sunflowers.  We got dark roses what are red, I mean dark pink.  We got some yellow flowers, a princess balloon, and a cookie cake with flowers for Aunt Ree.  That's all.

Mama worked out at Lifetime fitness and I went to the play area.  I played, not really with anybody. I was not going to play with any boys.  I played with four girls with balls, two balls, a red one and a purple one.  We went to Target & I got myself a yummy toothpaste what was My Little Pony.  It was pink.  I brushed my teeth last night with it & I tasted it.

Jack is Sick by Mom

Last night Susie Sirmons hosted a very fun game night at her house.  If you have never played "Mad Gab," It is a very fun game!  We were rolling on the floor laughing by the end, especially after our team lost the tie-breaking "lightning round."  So fun. 

However, I came home to a little boy that was having trouble sleeping, and when I took his temperature it was 104. No camp for Jack today, although he seems a little better now.  Unfortunately for Melanie, this means that she can't have her playdate with her friend from her Butterfly class, Kendall.  We will have to reschedule in 2 weeks because she goes up to Conroe with her cousins Kate & Ben Jordon for Camp Bentwater next week.

Maddie went to camp today, so after camp she will post about both Camp Nottingham and going to the new Kendall library.  Jack will hopefully be feeling well enough to write a post about Camp Nottingham, too, and Melanie can tell about her shopping excursions and Lifetime Fitness.   Thank you for reading!!

Birthday Parties and Camp by Jack Suerth

I went over for a sleepover at Dylan McK.'s house on Saturday night. It was his birthday.  We went to the pool and then we went to his house and we watched King Kong the movie.  We ate at the pool, I ate a cheeseburger that Mr. McK. grilled.  We went to bed at the end of King Kong.  We slept in the family room.  Kyle, Jack M, Collin & Dylan were there.  The next morning, we had McDonald's for breakfast.  I had a hash brown & pancakes with eggs and a biscuit. 

At the Atlantis party, I was on the green team with Dylan, and there was one birthday boy on each team, there was four birthday boys and four teams.  The first thing we did was tug of war.  Two teams were on each side of the rope.  The green team and red team won.  Then we went over to the pinata sharks and the idea was to get the next clue for the next activity in the race out of the shark.  We went over & had to stack up cans in a tower and then shoot it down with a water gun.  Then we went to the sport court and we had to shoot a basketball into our hoop.  Each person on the team had to do it.  Then we had to get a watermelon through four pools and get it to a certain tree.  It was full of butter so it was hard to hold onto.  Then the next thing we did was either eat part of an octopus tentacle or swim across the pool on a shark floatie.  I chose to swim across the pool on a shark floatie.  Then we had to go jump in the pool & get our color ring.  Then we had to attach a sea creature key chain to the ring & then hang it up on a board.  That was the last thing of the race.  The yellow team won.  Then we had cupcakes and there was chocolate coins on top of the cupcakes.  And then I stayed at the pool and swam around & played in the pool for a little bit & then I went home.

Today I went to Camp Nottingham.  First we went to the park, then it started to rain so we had to go inside and play games.  And the game I played was Battleship.  And then we had lunch after that, and then we played some more games.  And then the rain stopped & we went back outside to the park.  And when we were at the park we played Capture The Flag.  Then we went to the deck & we did awards and then we went home.

Rain, Rain, Go Away! By Mom

As the thunder and clouds rolled in this morning, I got Maddie & Jack off to Camp Nottingham.  They probably didn't need all the sunscreen I put on them today, we'll be lucky to see the sun at all!!  I hope they at least had a little time outside today before the rain came--it is going to make for a soggy camp day anyway.  Lots of MWE kids were there--Maddie E. and Laura P. in Maddie's group, and John A. and Zoe W. in Jack's group. 

Yesterday while Maddie worked on her blog entry Jack had his first tutoring session with Mrs. Johnson, so he will have to catch you up on his weekend activities today.  He had an even busier weekend than the rest of the Suerth family, as he had a birthday party Saturday night for Dylan McK. (Mike drove him in from Conroe) and the "Amazing Race Atlantis" party on Sunday. 

After camp this afternoon, I am going to TRY to get the kids to the new Kendall Library to sign up for their summer reading program.  I am hoping Jack will find some good books that he's interested in reading, and Maddie is already done with all the books she brought home from the MWE book swap at the end of the school year, so she's in need of some reading material as well.  It is pouring down rain right now so I can't think of a better afternoon activity.

Today is also my sister's 34th birthday so Melanie & I will be shopping for a gift while the kids are at camp; dinner at Ciro's tonight to celebrate.

Look for Jack's blog entry later today! 

first summer weekend By: Maddie Suerth

On Friday we went to the Sirmons lake house. I brought a friend along with us because there were no girls my age to play with.My friends name is Audrey Kate.We would share a bunk bed. Me and AK could not decide on who would sleep on the top bunk, so we were both going to sleep on the top bunk.We stayed two nights at the lake house. One of my favorite things we did there was go tubing. It was so much fun! I loved it when we went over the bumps. After tubing we went swimming in the lake. We left the tube in the lake so we could jump on it and climb on it. Another fun thing we did was roast MARSHMALLOWS!!!!I love  marshmallows. Me and AK played a game called fluffy bunny. This is how you play.First you put a marshmallow in your mouth,then you say fluffy bunny. You keep doing this until you can't say fluffy bunny any more. AK got five in her mouth and I got four. We are back now and tomorrow me and Jack are going to start Camp Nottingham!

The First Edition!!

Hello and welcome to our family "summer blog." Mom started this blog for three reasons:

1. To document and describe what we did this summer,
2. To get the kids to do something creative & help them with their writing,
3. Because there are only so many episodes of iCarly, Spongebob, and the Suite Life that a mom can sit through without worrying about summer brain rot!

So far, we've had a busy summer. I'll let Jack and Maddie tell you about our weekend!