Sports Update

The sports I'm playing right now are tennis, baseball, and a little volleyball. Because of a shoulder injury last fall, I had to take a brake of tennis for a while, but it has healed up now so I've have gotten back into it. Emma, Eliza, and I are taking lessons at the Auburn Racquet Club. I really like the coach because he has a fun personality. I was pretty rusty when I started but I think I am now to the point that I'm not getting brushed up but I'm learning again. I don't think I am as good as I was before the shoulder injury happened.

Baseball is great. I'm in Juniors this year. We were going to have a game last week but it got rained out, so we haven't had any games yet. I was going to be the starting pitcher for that game though. Batting is probably my weakest point in the game, although I am getting better at it. I hit a few home runs last year, but I definitely haven't hit any this year because we are on the big field now. I have been have a few other problems since that shoulder of mine such as the elbow and the wrist (in two places). But it looks like the elbow came because I was throwing with an incorrect form. And the wrist just got a little tweaked from tennis. I have a western grip, which puts a lot of pressure on my palm, between my thumb and pointing finger. I took another little break and it is feeling better. I still have to be careful because if I put sudden pressure on it though, it hurts.

Volleyball has been floating away a little because of these injuries. I shouldn't be doing so many sports at one time. When I injured my shoulder I was playing lots of baseball, tennis three times a week, and volleyball three to four times a week. So, I still love volleyball, but I can't do everything!!

P.S. Lilly is having her puppies right now! An update is coming soon!

Puppies!

On Tuesday during the late evening, Rose went into labor. Rose is our smallest dog. Here is a picture of her right after delivery:

We were amazed when one after the other, 5 little girls were conceived! We have a long list of people that want a puppy, and most of them want girls, so . . . And Lily is also pregnant. She is due next Tuesday. We should definitely get one or two males from her. Here is the chart on Roses' puppies:

#1 Sex:               Time:               Date:

      Girl                 6:39 PM.    3/19/13

#2 Sex:               Time:               Date:

        Girl                 7:02 PM      3/19/13

#3 Sex:               Time:               Date:

        Girl                 7:12 PM        3/19/13

#4 Sex:               Time:               Date:

        Girl                 8:26 PM     3/19/13

#5 Sex:               Time:               Date:

        Girl                 8:46 PM     3/19/13

Microscope

Our school bought us a microscope and several other biology kits for Emma's labs (dissecting baby pigs, frogs . . . well I won't go into that). I found the microscope to be quite interesting, and a little gross when mom put poison oak skin under the lenses! I took several pictures of the prepared slides. There are also blank slides, so we can look at other things around the house. This is the microscope:

These are Monocot and Dicot Stems:

This is an Onion Root Tip l.s., mitosis:

This is Euglena:

This is one of two, a Horse Ascaris Egg Sec.:

A little update on school; On Pre-algebra Part I, I got a 100% A on the Final, and my course grade is 99.74%. My Final Examination for second semester of Pre-lgebra was finally graded, and I got a 98% A. My course grade was simply A, which isn't very helpful without the percent. I'm now trying to finish Algebra I Part I, and then do Part II this summer.

Neil Armstrong

Today, our homeschool group came to our house and we had a lesson about Neil Armstrong from a rocket scientist. It was really cool to learn about him, and also the modern world and where the government and nation are at with space exploration. Afterwards, my friend Braden and his sister Gracy, tried an experiment. We did it below the rock wall, so the adults could watch from the porch.

Snowboarding

On Wednesday, Dad took Emma, Eliza, Sophia, and I to the slopes. Our charter school pays for lessons, equipment, tickets, everything. So we just snowboarded the whole day while dad worked in the lodge. In the morning we had lessons, and after lunch, Emma and I had fun with the camera, while Eliza and Sophia stuck together. Until the last run, where Emma, Eliza, and I strapped in our snowboards and raced dad and Sophia on the gondola. These are some of the films Emma and I took:

We went to North Star, which is really flat so I couldn't go fast.

School Update

On Thursday, Emma and I went to Placerville so I could take my Pre-algebra Part 2 final examination, and she took two finals for her first semester, History and Spanish. I recently received my grades for my last course, and I was feeling pretty confident about this one. My grades for the first semester are 100% A on the final, and 99.74% on the course. Pretty good! I took about one hour this time, and because Emma had two, she was done in about 2.5 hours. I am very confident that I got a 100% again. I should find out in about a week.

Double Slide!

A few days ago, I helped mom put together two yellow slides down a hill. Here it is:

This is one of our friends:

This one, well . . .

 . . . does your behind hurt after watching that? Mine does.